Azerbaijan, Baku, May 16 / Trend, E.Tariverdiyeva/
Azerbaijan, a small, gas-rich country that is embroiled in an unresolved border conflict with neighboring Armenia, will host the Eurovision Song Contest next year after its entry won the competition here on Saturday night, Wall Street Journal writes.
"I have to confess Azerbaijan was not on my radar screen at all," Robert Deam Tobin, an academic at Clark University, Worcester, Mass., and the editor of a collection of academic essays on Eurovision, told the journal commenting on Azerbaijan's victory.
He said it's certainly exciting to see a secular democracy that borders Iran and has a Shiite Muslim majority population embracing the European ideal as posited by Eurovision.
Azerbaijan, a first-time Eurovision winner, was an outsider to triumph in the competition, compared to favorites France and hotly tipped Ireland and the U.K, the article reads. The winning act was duo Ell and Nikki, whose "Running Scared" received 221 points.
Television commentators said Azerbaijan's victory was likely due to a strong performance from jury votes as the country doesn't have a particularly strong record of neighborly voting, the article reads.
Azerbaijani duo Eldar Gasimov and Nigar Jamal (Ell / Nikki) with the song "Running Scared" (221 points) became winner. Italy / Raphael Gualazzi - "Madness Of Love" (189 points) ranked second, while the third was Sweden / Eric Saade - "Popular" (185 points).
Azerbaijan received the highest score - 12 points from Russia, Turkey and Malta.