English

Belarus’ Eurovision entry was victimized by biased judging, Lukashenka says

Belarus’ entry at the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest was victimized by biased judging, Alyaksandr Lukashenka claimed Friday while on a tour of the Vitsyebsk region.

Belarus with a song called “I Love Belarus,” performed by 20-year-old Minsk student Anastasiya Vinikava (Anastasia Vinnikova), failed to qualify for the final as a result of a semi-final held in Dusseldorf, Germany on Thursday night.

“Well done! Everything matched perfectly: the movements, the face, and the song,” the Belarusian leader said. “She in fact sang a national anthem of Belarus. Who will let the anthem of Belarus reach the final? That’s why they pressurize us there and will pressurize us here.”

“They will choke us on every front, including the Eurovision contest, like they did yesterday regarding this girl.” Mr. Lukashenka said.

Under the Eurovision voting rules, the final scores of songs are calculated on the basis of both the results of televoting and the scores from the national juries of participating countries. The 10 highest scoring entries in each semi-final go through to the Grand Final.

Each national jury shall consist of five members, who shall be professionals within the music industry and nationals of the relevant country.

Belarus placed 24th among the 25 finalists at last year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo, earning a disappointing 18 points.

Belarus placed sixth among 42 contestant nations at the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest with a song sung by Dzmitry Kaldun, a 21-year-old former chemistry student at Belarusian State University.

The result of the singer’s performance was given ecstatic coverage by Belarus` major television networks, which described it as a great achievement of the country as a whole and a victory that Belarus had been working for four years.

Alyaksandr Lukashenka extended official presidential thanks to Mr. Kaldun and Alyaksandr Tsikhanovich, director of the Belarusian State Television and Radio Company`s Eurofest program, “for the efficient preparations for the contest, which ensured the successful performance.”

Belarus won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2005 and 2007 and took second place in 2006. //BelaPAN