Head of Republic of Moldova’s state television resigns following Eurovision jury score scandal
The head of public television in the Republic of Moldova resigned on Monday, May 18, after a public outcry regarding the points given to Romania by the former's expert jury during the Eurovision final held in Vienna.
In the Eurovision system of voting, the public vote for contestants is doubled by points from 1 to 12 given by judges in every country. The Moldovan jury awarded maximum points to Poland, while Romania received only 3 points, despite the close relationship between the two states. At the same time, the Moldovan public vote granted Romania’s representative, Alexandra Căpitănescu, the maximum 12 points.
In the end, Romania finished the competition in third after receiving 232 points from the public televote and 64 points from the professional juries. Neighboring Bulgaria secured its first-ever Eurovision victory with a total of 516 points, coming on top in both the jury and the public vote.
Meanwhile, the Republic of Moldova ranked 8th at the Eurovision Song Contest 2026, the fourth-best result in its history of participation in the contest. Although the national juries of the participating countries awarded the Republic of Moldova only 43 points, the final ranking was significantly changed by the public vote. With 183 points obtained from televoting, the Republic of Moldova rose in the final standings. The most points came from Romania, both from the jury (12 points) and the public (10 points). Significant scoring also came from Ukraine, which awarded 12 points from the public and 8 points from the jury.
Despite the good standing for both Romania and Moldova, the audience in both countries took to the internet to express their anger and disbelief regarding Moldova's jury votes for Romania. On the Moldovan side, the presenter who announced the scores, Rita, said she was shocked to see only 3 points go to Romania. “Are you joking? I have to present this. How am I supposed to look into the camera and say that Romania has only 3 points, when it had such a good song??!!!” she said in a video posted to social media the same night.
In response to the outcry, Vlad Țurcanu, former director of TeleRadio Moldova, announced his resignation during a press conference. The official spent an hour of the conference trying to provide explanations.
“The vote expressed is our responsibility and first of all mine, as head of the institution. I avoided giving instructions to the jury members, and what happened, an unusual and serious thing from our point of view, was that the jury did not take into account the sensitivities that exist between the Republic of Moldova and our two neighbors, Romania and Ukraine,” the former television head said, cited by ProTV.
Through his resignation, Țurcanu said he wished to send “a clear signal, namely that the relations of fraternity that the Republic of Moldova has with Romania, as well as our gratitude and consideration for Ukraine for its daily sacrifice, remain unaltered.”
To further ease the tensions, Romania’s Alexandra Căpitănescu posted a message thanking fans in the Republic of Moldova for their support and votes, saying it is not normal for an entire people to be held responsible for the decision of the 7 members of the jury.
Similarly, Satoshi, Moldova’s representative at Eurovision, posted a message emphasizing the friendship between the two countries. “The public of the Republic of Moldova gave Romania the maximum score, which represents the honest public opinion. Do not fuel hatred. Our countries have been and will be friends,” he wrote on his Instagram account.
(Photo source: Vlad Țurcanu on Facebook)
