Russia is outraged over how Eurovision votes for its entrant, Dina Garipova, disappeared during a voting mishap in Azerbaijan, the Foreign Minister said. Azerbaijan gave Russia no points, despite the fact its song came second in a phone poll.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov slammed the “outrageous”
incident at a press conference in Moscow with his Azerbaijani
counterpart, Elmar Mammadyarov.
“When 10 points are stolen from our participant, there is
cause for concern,” Lavrov said, adding that it reflected badly
on how the event was organized.
"This outrageous action will not remain without a
response,” he stressed, stating that he would decide on a
proper course of action after receiving the results of an
investigation into the matter.
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister described the voting blunder as a
mystery, and called it a “detective story.”
“Where did the votes go? How did they disappear? This is an
issue that our state television should resolve,” he said. Three
of Azerbaijan’s largest phone operators registered Russia as
receiving the most votes after Ukraine.
The telephone poll comprised 50 percent of the total vote, and
the remainder was decided by a panel of judges.
Russia’s entry in this year’s Eurovision – ‘Change the World,’ sung
by Garipova – came in fifth place in Saturday’s annual Eurovision
Song Contest held in Malmo, Sweden.
Despite the complaints, the extra 10 points that Russia may have
lost would have made a difference in the final results, as Russia
finished 17 points behind Norway.
Official Eurovision representative Jarmo Siim said that the
results would not be changed, and that the vote had been
watertight.
“Any attempt to politically pressure the Jury that may lead
to results not connected to the artists’ individual merits is
considered a violation of Eurovision Song Contest rules,” Siim
told reporters.
Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko also criticized the
contest, describing it as politicized and highlighting how the
Belarusian contestant received no votes from Russia.