Published: 20 May, 2009, 18:29
Edited: 20 May, 2009, 18:29
A European Broadcasting Union (EBU) official denies Ukraine’s claims about faking viewers’ and the jury’s voting results towards the Ukrainian-born participant representing Russia at Eurovision in Moscow.
Svante Stockselius, the EBU spokesperson, confirmed that the voting results, announced in the Final of the Song Contest were absolutely correct, and the voting was held according to the rules of the competition.
“The dispute which arose around the results of Ukraine’s voting was due to misunderstanding the system of bringing together the results of viewers’ and jury voting," Stockselius says.
The EBU official’s statement also included the decryption of Ukraine’s voting towards some of the participating countries. Ukrainians granted their 12 points – the highest appreciation, to Anastasia Prikhodko. However, the professional jury did not vote for her at all. It placed the Russian contestant in third place in Ukraine giving her a total of 8 points.
Two days earlier, on May 18, a scandal arose due to the head of Ukrainian jury, Roman Nedzelsky. He initiated addressing an official claim to the EBU with a request to explain how it could happen that Prikhodko, who was given zero points from the jury and the maximum 8 from the viewers, could have come in third in Ukraine’s voting. He insisted that extra votes from the state were unfairly imputed to Prikhodko.
“We did not control the SMS voting, but we knew the decision of the professional jury. We did not give Russia any points… It’s an ordinary manipulation,” Nedzelsky said.
However, the offended Ukrainians still think Russia should have given higher appreciation to their contestant Svetlana Loboda, who received 2 points from Russia. “I’m very grateful for the Russian 2 points for Ukraine. It’s very generous and neighborly of them,” Nedzelsky said with irony.
It’s not the first time Ukraine has tried to throw a shadow on the image of Russia. They said the voting for Dima Bilan, the winner of last year’s Eurovision in Belgrade, also came out first unfairly.