Numerous country’s political bigwigs have suggested the nation boycott the competition next year, refusing to enter its 2017 installment out of protest to what happened Saturday night, according to The Independent.
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She took 534 points on the night, ahead of Australia’s Dami Im on 511 points, and ahead of Russia’s Sergey Lavarev – who won the popular vote but got just 491 points.
Russian Senator Frants Klintsevich told reporters Sunday that Jamala’s victory sent an alarming signal, and questioned the future of the contest, state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
More than 180 million viewers watch the song contest annually.
Televoting gave the victory to Russian Federation, with 361 votes against 334 of Ukraine, but it was an insufficient number to close the advantage scored by Jamalas 1944 performance about the deportation of Crimean Tartars decreed by Stalin in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russian Federation in 2014.
JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty ImagesJamala representing Ukraine with the song “1944” celebrates with the trophy after winning the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 Grand Final in Stockholm, on May 14, 2016.
As well as working to secure a place in next year’s Eurovision final in Ukraine, SBS is developing a “Eurovision Asia” spin-off it hopes to air next year.
Even though Dami Im’s “Sound Of Silence” was clearly the best song in the contest – even if it arguably also broke a Eurovision rule (one about not mentioning branded products). Jamala herself is of Tatar extraction and was said to be inspired by her family’s experience.
Number-crunchers have worked out that with the mix-up taken into account, Ukraine would have got zero points from the Danish jury as a whole instead of 12, while Australia would have got the 12 points, up from 10.
Crimea’s Deputy Prime Minister Ruslan Balbek said earlier on Tuesday the Crimean authorities would be glad to see Jamala at the memorial’s opening ceremony on May 18.
“This is such a dream, thank you #Eurovision!”, she said on social media. Inside Crimea, the seizure of territory from Ukraine was most strongly opposed by the Tatar minority, who now face persecution on the Moscow-ruled Black Sea peninsula.
The head of the foreign affairs committee in Russia’s upper chamber Konstantin Kochachev insisted that “according to the tally of points it was geopolitics that gained the upper hand”.
Jamala said that the composition is about all people who are victims of past tragedies.
The reaction to Jamala’s victory in the West was far more positive.
Jamala is Crimean Tartar-the first one ever to even compete in the Eurovision contest-who are a group of people communist dictator Joseph Stalin kicked out of Crimea (a region of Ukraine on the Mediterranean) when the Soviet Union was still a thing.
Moscow denies annexing Crimea.
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He adds that Australia had actually been in the top spot with only the votes of industry professionals counted, “and people were genuinely surprised when they lost their lead when the tele-voting was factored in”.
