Vlad Turcanu resigns as head of Teleradio-Moldova Company amid Eurovision 2026 scandal: “The vote cast is my responsibility”

Vlad Turcanu has announced his resignation from the position of director general of the Teleradio-Moldova Company. Turcanu made statements to this effect at a news conference.

“Let me inform you of my decision to resign from the position of director general of the Teleradio-Moldova Company (TRM). I will submit a resignation application to the Supervisory Council of TRM, as required by law. Even though we distanced ourselves from the decisions of the jury appointed to score the artistic performances at the Eurovision final in Vienna, the vote that was cast is our responsibility and primarily mine, as head of the institution,” Turcanu said.

The decision comes in the wake of the scandal that erupted after the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 final, when the jury of Moldova awarded only three points to Romania’s representative, Alexandra Capitanescu, although the Moldovan public gave her the maximum score. In addition, the jury appointed by Turcanu did not award any points to Ukraine. The situation triggered a wave of reactions and criticism in the public sphere, both in Moldova and in Romania.

Following the controversies, the TRM leadership was publicly criticized and many reactions targeted the way the national jury was appointed and how it voted.

On May 17, the public company Teleradio-Moldova issued an official reaction after the wave of public criticism regarding the points awarded to Romania and Ukraine in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026. The decisions of the national jury — which also included the institution’s deputy director general, Andrei Zapsa — are completely independent and do not reflect the official or editorial position of the company, the TRM statement reads.

On May 16, the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 took place in Vienna. The competition was won by Bulgaria’s representative, Dara, with the song “Bangaranga”, scoring 516 points. Second place went to Israel’s representative, Noam Bettan, with the song “Michelle”, after getting 343 points. Romania, represented by Alexandra Capitanescu with the song “Choke Me”, ranked third with a score of 296 points. At5 the same time, Moldova, represented by Satoshi with the song “Viva, Moldova!”, finished the competition on the eighth position, with 226 points.