The gayest night of the year, the Eurovision Song Contest, is changing drastically in an attempt to improve the voting and results system.

The European Broadcast Union and Swedish broadcaster SVT this week announced the biggest change to the song contest since 1975.
Organisers are shaking up the voting system for the 2016 contest, which takes place in Stockholm, Sweden.

According to an official statement from Eurovision’s official website, the new system will be as follows:

In previous years the results of the professional juries and viewers have been presented as a combined result, each accounting for 50 percent of the final score.

From 2016, the professional juries and televoters from each country will each award a separate set of points from 1 to 8, 10 and 12. This now means the top 10 countries in both the jury and televote will receive points, adding a new level of excitement for hundreds of millions of viewers in Europe and beyond.

Still confused?

They have also produced an informative video outlining the changes.

“This new way of presenting the votes is a big step forward, both to make a better television show as well as a more exciting competition,” said the EBU’s Jon Ola Sand, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Martin Österdahl, Executive Producer for the 2016 Eurovision continued, “In previous years the winner has been known for up to 20 minutes before the end of voting and that’s not good TV. This format change will inject a new level of excitement into the finish of the Eurovision Song Contest”.

Thousands of gays are expected to flock to Sweden for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016, which takes place on May 14.