Eurovision Song Contest 1988 - Voting Structure

Voting Structure

Each country had a jury who awarded 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points for their top ten songs.

The 1988 contest is notable for the quirk of the final votes. With three countries left to vote, the UK were well in the lead with 133 points against Switzerland's 118. With the third last country only awarding Switzerland one point, the UK looked certain of victory, as even if Switzerland scooped the two final 12s, the UK would only need to gather 11 points from three juries combined to be unbeatable. However, that country failed to give the UK any points at all and as the following country gave the UK a meagre three points and the maximum 12 to Switzerland, the contest was suddenly blown open.

With the conclusion of voting from the penultimate jury, the UK was holding a five-point lead over Switzerland. As the final jury, that of Yugoslavia, began to award its points in the customary ascending order, the international audience held its breath to see how the two rivals for victory would fare. Switzerland were the first to be named with six points, barely enough to keep their hopes of winning alive, edging them as it did into a one-point lead. However, given the pattern of voting all evening, it seemed highly likely that the UK would be given one of the higher set of points. But remarkably, after the seven, eight, ten and twelve points were announced, it transpired that Yugoslavia had awarded the UK no points at all, and Switzerland were left to savour a dramatic triumph. After strong votes all night, the UK only managed to garner a mere three points between the last three juries. Yugoslavia had caused the same situation to happen when after their voting UK lost to Spain by 1 point in 1968. The UK entry was written and composed by Julie Forsyth, the daughter of the entertainer Bruce Forsyth who was present. When interviewed afterwards he was particularly annoyed at the Dutch jury not having given a vote to the UK, as they had done some work there.

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