EuroNews, France
May 21 2013
Joint probe into Russia’s Eurovision votes `stolen’ in Azerbaijan
21/05 16:42 CET
Russia and Azerbaijan are joining forces to investigate a Eurovision
scandal that saw votes for Russia’s entry vanish.
Moscow’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has described as `outrageous’
the revelations by Azerbaijan that although its country’s voters had
put Dina Garipova’s ballad second, she got `nul points’ instead of
ten.
At a joint news conference in Moscow, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister
Elmar Mammadyarov spoke of his government’s `shock’ when the data was
published.
On Monday Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev ordered an inquiry. The
head of the country’s public broadcaster said he was `very worried and
surprised’ by the breakdown of the votes.
Eurovision fans in each of the 39 countries voted by text or phone and
their collective votes counted 50-50 with those of a professional
jury.
Russia’s ten `lost’ votes made no difference to the final outcome. Its
song came fifth, 17 points behind fourth-placed Norway.
From: A. Papazian
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