BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

Wednesday, 30 November, 2005

Junior Eurovision 2005 - Post Mortem

by di-ve.com

Belarus won the 3rd edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest which took place in Hasselt, Belgium. After a big battle with Spain, Belarusian participant Kseniya won the trophy of the contest and gave to her country the first ever eurovision winning experience.

Although Europe voted unanimously the Belarusian entry, the feelings among the eurofans for the winner are mixed. Here are the detailed results:

149 pts Belarus

146 pts Spain

123 pts Norway

121 pts Denmark

89 pts Romania

88 pts Greece

82 pts Netherlands

68 pts FYR Macedonia

66 pts Russia

63 pts Belgium

50 pts Latvia

36 pts Croatia

29 pts Serbia & Montenegro

28 pts United Kingdom

22 pts Sweden

18 pts Malta

The voting began with the generous 12 pts to all the participants to avoid both the null points or the one digit ending in the scoreboard. Romania was the top favourite but failed to manage to fight for the victory although the performance was one of the best.

Malta together with Latvia and Spain were predicted to win the contest according to the British bets of Bet365. Romania, Greece, Netherlands, Belgium and UK were tipped off as winners among the fans.

Once again Eurovision proves that the contest is always unpredictable. Congratulations Kseniya!

Malta ended last with 18 points. 12 points were awarded gratis by EBU to all participants, 1 point was awarded to Thea & Friends by Greece, while the other 5 points were awarded to the Maltese entry by Denmark. Malta's televote awarded 12 points to the winner, Belarus.

Speaking exclusively to Di-ve.com, Mr. Deo Grech, club president of the Eurovision Fan Club in Malta (www.malta.ogae.net) stated the following: "For the third consecutive year, the winning entry was performed by one of the youngest participants of the night. And, for the second consecutive year Junior Eurovision proves that the youngest kids with the most colourful performances stand a better chance to end in the top places. We should learn a lesson after this disappointing result. Our country must send younger participants if we want to do better. The message is crystal clear - this is a JUNIORS Song Festival, afterall! "

Next year TVR invites us all in Bucharest to watch the 4th edition of the contest.

Source:

http://www.di-ve.com/dive/portal/portal.jhtml?id=209100&pid=67