Azerbaijan Probe Eurovision Vote

Azerbaijan has announced it is to probe the country’s ‘nul points’ for the Russian entry in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest which was held in Malmo, Sweden.

In something of a bizarre twist the results of the Azerbaijan vote in Saturday’s Eurovision Song Contest are to be the subject of an inquiry. The president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyey, has ordered an inquiry to find out why the country awarded no points to its neighbour Russia.

According to reports voters in Azerbaijan, as well as the country’s national jury, gave a strong backing to Russia but that wasn’t how the final results were reflected on Saturday evening. During Eurovision on Saturday Azerbaijan gave its 12 points to the Ukraine and 10 points to Georgia with Russia receiving no points at all.

BBC News reports that the state broadcaster in Azerbaijan has indicated that there may have been voting violations. Azerbaijani officials are claiming that Russia should have received 10 points from themselves.Camil Guliyev, head of the state broadcaster, said “We sincerely hope that this incident, possibly initiated by certain interest groups, will not cast a shadow over the brotherly relations of the Russian and Azerbaijani peoples”

Even if voting violations are found to have taken place in Azerbaijan it will not affect the final result of the competition. Emmelie de Forest won the finale for Denmark with her entry Only Teardrops scoring 281 points. Azerbaijan came second with 234 points while Ukraine finished third with 214 points. Azerbaijan were the hosts of the Eurovision Song Contest last year when it was held in their capital city, Baku.

The holding of the competition in Azerbaijan last year caused something of a minor diplomatic spat with the neighbouring Iran who accused the country of supporting gay rights through hosting the singing competition.

You can read Queenie Le Trout’s review of this year’s Eurovision finale here >>