ARMENIA FINISHES EIGHT AT EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

Armenpress
May 22 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 22, ARMENPRESS: Finland’s rock band Lordi has won the
2006 Eurovision song contest with their heavy metal rendition Hard
Rock Hallelujah. It is the first time Finland has won the contest
in 40 years of trying. The country had never been placed higher than
sixth in the competition before.

The Scandinavian masked quintet bagged 292 points from telephone
voters in 38 countries. Second came Russian heartthrob Dima Bilan,
who received 248 points, followed by Bosnia-Herzegovina group Mata
Hari with 229 points.

First-timer Armenia with the song called Without your Love finished
eighth with 129 points. Armenia and Russia exchanged maximum score
of 12 points. Armenia was also generously supported by fans from
Belgium, Netherlands, Greece, Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, Germany,
Spain and Turkey that gave a surprise 10 scores.

The Eurovision vote resembled a `regional cooperation’ rather
displaying the solidarity among neighboring countries which voted for
one another. For instance, the Balkan states, Scandinavia, Northern
Europe, the Baltic States and the three Slavonic states ` exchanged’
the highest points.