Eurovision organiser responds to petition demanding results review

The final of the Eurovision 2016 contest took place on Saturday, with Ukraine's representative, singer Jamala, declared the winner.

The results disappointed many residents of Russia, who believed Sergey Lazarev should have won, as he received the highest number of votes in the public televote. However, the jury awarded the performer only fifth place. In the combined total of all votes, Lazarev finished third.

The artist's fans spent several days collecting signatures for a petition demanding a review of the voting results. A total of over 300,000 signatures were gathered. However, this had no impact on the response. The European Broadcasting Union, the organiser of the contest, refused to review the results, definitively and irrevocably recognising Jamala as the winner of Eurovision 2016.

According to a representative, there will always be dissenters, and this is not a reason to strip the singer of her victory.