Meryem Kerimova Wins the Second Heat in Azeri Milli Seçim Turu

Today in Azerbaijan’s national final, it was time for Milli Seçim Turu’s final show in the second heat. The nine competitors had their last chance in the "to be or not to be" battle which was won by Meryem Kerimova, who joins Orhan Kerimli in the semi-final heat.

This evening’s show started with the introduction of a few well-known names by the host, Hüsniye Maharramova, who announced the Azeri votes at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2009. Before the show started, the latest results after four shows were revealed:

1.    Ferid Hasanov – 648 votes
2.    Meryem Kerimova – 615 votes
3.    Rüfet Aliyev – 485 votes
4.    Hüseyin Abdullayev – 274 votes
5.    Live or Leave – 227 votes
6.    Elvin Babazade – 206 votes
7.    İlham Hamidov – 182 votes
8.    Mihriban Sadıqova – 54 votes
9.    Sehri Rahimova – 43 votes  

As the results shows us, only Ferid or Meryem could have achieved their winning points if it was only televoting. The host reminded the audience that there would also be jury votes for each day’s performances that happened over the week, so anything could change and it was not the time to throw in a towel yet. Today, it was for the participants’ who chose the songs they wanted to perform. They performed in the order below:

•    Ferid Hasanov 
•    Mihriban Sadıqova
•    Rüfet Aliyev
•    İlham Hamidov
•    Hüseyn Abdullayev
•    Meryam Kerimova
•    Sehri Rahimova
•    Group Live or Leave
•    Elvin Babazade 

After the performances, the show continued with the results. The host of the night, Hüsniye Maharramova, announced the votes from last position to the top. The latest results were collected after each day’s results with the combination of jury and televoting, 50/50. Then the final shape of scoreboard came out as:

2 points: Mihriban Sadıqova
3 points: Rüfet Aliyev
4 points: Live or Leave
5 points: Sehri Rahimova
6 points: Elvin Babazade
7 points: İlham Hamidov
8 points: Ferid Hasanov
10 points: Hüseyin Abdullayev
12 points: Meryem Kerimova

After today’s results, the semi-finalists are:

•    Meryem Kerimova

With those nine performances and results, the final day in heat 2 ended. The third heat will start on Monday with the World Music theme and of course with the new participants. The show will start at 18.00 CET (21.00 with local time) and will of course be aired by İçtimai TV via satellite and web. Below you can watch the closing ceremony of heat two:

Source: EuroVisionary
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