Serbia wins Eurovision in Slavic sweep

Serbia, in its first time competing, has won this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, outscoring its Slavic relatives Ukraine and Russia. That means Serbia will host next year’s contest.

The 2007 Eurovision contest’s final was held May 12 in Helsinki, Finland.

Serbia’s entry, the song “Molitva” performed by singer Marija Šerifović, won 268 points. Ukraine’s gender-bending Verka Serduchka, tapped by many oddsmakers as the sure winner, came in second with 235 points. The Russian trio Serebro and their “Song #1,” took third with 207 points.

Latvia’s Bonaparti.lv and the Italian-language song “Questa notte,” which made it through the May 10 semi-final to earn a spot in the final, scored 54 points for 16th place. If Latvia competes next year, it will have to again face other contenders in a semi-final bout.

Latvia earned 10 points each from Estonia, Ireland and Lithuania; 6 points from Slovenia; 4 points each from Malta and the United Kingdom; 3 points each from the Netherlands and Norway; 2 points from Romania, and 1 point each from Croatia and Poland;

Voters in Latvia cast their top points to Ukraine (12), Lithuania (10) and Belarus (8).

Voters in Ireland—which has seen great numbers of Baltic immigrants arrive in recent years—not only gave Latvia 10 points, but also gave Lithuania the top score of 12 points.

Andris Straumanis is a special correspondent for and a co-founder of Latvians Online. From 2000–2012 he was editor of the website.

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