• Dates – Grand Final: Saturday, 26 May 2012 – 21:00 CEST
• Host – Venue & Location: Crystal Hall (Bakı Kristal Zalı, Baku Crystal Hall), Baku, 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan
• Presenter (s): Leyla Guliyeva (Leyla Mutallim qizi Guliyeva – Aliyeva, Leyla Mütəllim qızı Quliyeva – Əliyeva), Eldar ‘Ell’ Gasımov (Eldar “Ell” Parviz oglu Gasimov, Eldar Pərviz oğlu Qasımov) e Nargiz Birk-Peterson (Nargiz Ilgar qizi Birk-Petersen – Abbaszadeh; Nərgiz İlqar qızı Abbaszadə)
• Musical Director: —
• Director: Ladislaus Kiraly
• Executive Producer: Adil Kerimli
• Executive Supervisor: Jon Ola Sand
• Multicamera Director: Ladislaus Kiraly
• Host broadcaster: İctimai Televiziya və Radio Yayımları Şirkəti (İTV)
• Opening Act: Alim Qasimov performing a short mugham intro followed by traditional Azerbaijani dancers, Ell and Nikki with “Running Scared”.
• Interval Act: Emin Agalarov performed “Never Enough“, a track taken from the album ‘After the Thunder’.
• Motto: Light your fire! (Öz məşəlini alovlandır!)
• Participants – Number of entries: 42: Final 26 [🇫🇷 France (52ª), 🇮🇸 Iceland (25ª), 🇷🇺 Russia (15ª), 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan (5ª), 🇲🇩 Moldova (8ª), 🇩🇰 Denmark (41ª), 🇩🇪 Germany (52ª), 🇺🇦 Ukraine (10ª), 🇷🇴 Romania (14ª), 🇬🇧 United Kindom (51ª), 🇪🇸 Spain (48ª), 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina (17ª), 🇷🇸 Serbia (7ª), 🇮🇪 Ireland (43ª), 🇬🇷 Greece (31ª), 🇱🇹 Lithuania (13ª), 🇭🇺 Hungary (10ª), 🇸🇪 Sweden (49ª), 🇪🇪 Estonia (17ª), 🇮🇹 Italy (35ª), 🇦🇱 Albania (9ª), 🇨🇾 Cyprus (30ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (48ª), 🇹🇷 Turkey (33ª), 🇲🇹 Malta (24ª), 🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia (12ª)]; First Semi-Final 18 [🇮🇸 Iceland (25ª), 🇫🇮 Finland (43ª), 🇦🇱 Albania (9ª), 🇬🇷 Greece (31ª), 🇷🇺 Russia (15ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (51ª), 🇭🇺 Hungary (10ª), 🇲🇪 Montenegro (4ª), 🇱🇻 Latvia (12ª), 🇷🇴 Romania (14ª), 🇧🇪 Belgium (51ª), 🇮🇱 Israel (31ª), 🇸🇲 San Marino (3ª), 🇨🇾 Cyprus (30ª), 🇩🇰 Denmark (41ª), 🇦🇹 Austria (44ª), 🇲🇩 Moldova (8ª), 🇮🇪 Ireland (43ª)]; Second Semi-Final 18 [🇸🇮 Slovenia (17ª), 🇺🇦 Ukraine (10ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (50ª), 🇸🇪 Sweden (49ª), 🇧🇬 Bulgaria (8ª), 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina (17ª), 🇸🇰 Slovakia (7ª), 🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia (12ª), 🇪🇪 Estonia (17ª), 🇧🇾 Belarus (9ª), 🇷🇸 Serbia (7ª), 🇲🇹 Malta (24ª), 🇵🇹 Portugal (43ª), 🇭🇷 Croatia (19ª), 🇬🇪 Georgia (5ª), 🇹🇷 Turkey (33ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (48ª), 🇱🇹 Lithuania (13ª)]
• Debuting countries: —
• Return: 🇲🇪 Montenegro (4ª)
• Non-returning countries: 🇦🇲 Armenia (6ª), 🇵🇱 Poland (16ª)
• Vote – Voting system: Each country awarded 12, 10, 8–1 points to their 10 favourite songs.
• Nil Points: —
• Winning song:  “Euphoria” – Loreen – 🇸🇪 Sweden (5ª)

About/Overview. The 2012 Eurovision Song Contest was held in Baku, Azerbaijan. It is the furthest East that the contest had ever been held. Baku provided a unique setting for the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest. The slogan for the competition this year was Light Your Fire, which was fitting given that the event was being held in Azerbaijan, the Land of Fire. The United Kingdom sent its oldest ever participant, 76 year old Engelbert Humperdinck, whilst Russia was represented by the Buranovskiye Babushki who had a combined age of more than 500!. 

A Euphoric win for Sweden. Sweden’s participant Loreen had been the main favourite ever since she appeared in the widely popular Swedish selection show, Melodifestivalen, earlier that year. Her song Euphoria took Europe by storm and Sweden won the 2012 competition by a landslide. The song went on to be a worldwide hit and reached number one in several countries selling more than two million copies.

Facts and figures. 42 broadcasters took part while initially 43 had signed up. It was the Armenian broadcaster ARMTV which pulled out at the last minute; The ruling champion of the contest, Eldar “Ell” Gasimov also co-hosted the shows in Baku; “Euphoria” received the highest number of 12 points of any entry in the contest’s history with eighteen countries giving the song top marks; Rona Nishliu took one of the highest notes in the history of the contest in her entry “Suus”; The world-famous twins, Jedward took part for the second year in a row for Ireland.

Final. 

• Dates – First Semi-Final: Tuesday, 22 May 2012 – 21:00 CEST
• Host – Venue & Location: Crystal Hall (Bakı Kristal Zalı, Baku Crystal Hall), Baku, 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan
• Presenter (s): Leyla Guliyeva (Leyla Mutallim qizi Guliyeva – Aliyeva, Leyla Mütəllim qızı Quliyeva – Əliyeva), Eldar ‘Ell’ Gasımov (Eldar “Ell” Parviz oglu Gasimov, Eldar Pərviz oğlu Qasımov) e Nargiz Birk-Peterson (Nargiz Ilgar qizi Birk-Petersen – Abbaszadeh; Nərgiz İlqar qızı Abbaszadə)
• Musical Director: —
• Director: Ladislaus Kiraly
• Executive Producer: Adil Kerimli
• Executive Supervisor: Jon Ola Sand
• Multicamera Director: Ladislaus Kiraly
• Host broadcaster: İctimai Televiziya və Radio Yayımları Şirkəti (İTV)
• Opening Act: —
• Interval Act: Natig Rhythm Group
• Motto: Light your fire! (Öz məşəlini alovlandır!)
• Participants – Number of entries: 42: Final 26 [🇫🇷 France (52ª), 🇮🇸 Iceland (25ª), 🇷🇺 Russia (15ª), 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan (5ª), 🇲🇩 Moldova (8ª), 🇩🇰 Denmark (41ª), 🇩🇪 Germany (52ª), 🇺🇦 Ukraine (10ª), 🇷🇴 Romania (14ª), 🇬🇧 United Kindom (51ª), 🇪🇸 Spain (48ª), 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina (17ª), 🇷🇸 Serbia (7ª), 🇮🇪 Ireland (43ª), 🇬🇷 Greece (31ª), 🇱🇹 Lithuania (13ª), 🇭🇺 Hungary (10ª), 🇸🇪 Sweden (49ª), 🇪🇪 Estonia (17ª), 🇮🇹 Italy (35ª), 🇦🇱 Albania (9ª), 🇨🇾 Cyprus (30ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (48ª), 🇹🇷 Turkey (33ª), 🇲🇹 Malta (24ª), 🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia (12ª)]; First Semi-Final 18 [🇮🇸 Iceland (25ª), 🇫🇮 Finland (43ª), 🇦🇱 Albania (9ª), 🇬🇷 Greece (31ª), 🇷🇺 Russia (15ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (51ª), 🇭🇺 Hungary (10ª), 🇲🇪 Montenegro (4ª), 🇱🇻 Latvia (12ª), 🇷🇴 Romania (14ª), 🇧🇪 Belgium (51ª), 🇮🇱 Israel (31ª), 🇸🇲 San Marino (3ª), 🇨🇾 Cyprus (30ª), 🇩🇰 Denmark (41ª), 🇦🇹 Austria (44ª), 🇲🇩 Moldova (8ª), 🇮🇪 Ireland (43ª)]; Second Semi-Final 18 [🇸🇮 Slovenia (17ª), 🇺🇦 Ukraine (10ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (50ª), 🇸🇪 Sweden (49ª), 🇧🇬 Bulgaria (8ª), 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina (17ª), 🇸🇰 Slovakia (7ª), 🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia (12ª), 🇪🇪 Estonia (17ª), 🇧🇾 Belarus (9ª), 🇷🇸 Serbia (7ª), 🇲🇹 Malta (24ª), 🇵🇹 Portugal (43ª), 🇭🇷 Croatia (19ª), 🇬🇪 Georgia (5ª), 🇹🇷 Turkey (33ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (48ª), 🇱🇹 Lithuania (13ª)]
• Debuting countries: —
• Return: 🇲🇪 Montenegro (4ª)
• Non-returning countries: 🇦🇲 Armenia (6ª), 🇵🇱 Poland (16ª)
• Vote – Voting system: Each country awarded 12, 10, 8–1 points to their 10 favourite songs.
• Nil Points: —
• Winning song: “Party for everybody” – Buranovskiye Babushki – 🇷🇺 Russia (1ª)

First Semi-Final. [Q] – Qualifiers qualifier

About/Overview. The 2012 Eurovision Song Contest was held in Baku, Azerbaijan. It is the furthest East that the contest had ever been held. Baku provided a unique setting for the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest. The slogan for the competition this year was Light Your Fire, which was fitting given that the event was being held in Azerbaijan, the Land of Fire. The United Kingdom sent its oldest ever participant, 76 year old Engelbert Humperdinck, whilst Russia was represented by the Buranovskiye Babushki who had a combined age of more than 500!. 

A Euphoric win for Sweden. Sweden’s participant Loreen had been the main favourite ever since she appeared in the widely popular Swedish selection show, Melodifestivalen, earlier that year. Her song Euphoria took Europe by storm and Sweden won the 2012 competition by a landslide. The song went on to be a worldwide hit and reached number one in several countries selling more than two million copies.

Facts and figures. 42 broadcasters took part while initially 43 had signed up. It was the Armenian broadcaster ARMTV which pulled out at the last minute; The ruling champion of the contest, Eldar “Ell” Gasimov also co-hosted the shows in Baku; “Euphoria” received the highest number of 12 points of any entry in the contest’s history with eighteen countries giving the song top marks; Rona Nishliu took one of the highest notes in the history of the contest in her entry “Suus”; The world-famous twins, Jedward took part for the second year in a row for Ireland.

Second Semi-Final. [Q] – Qualifiers

• 🇧🇾 Belarus: “All My Life” (English) – Alyona Lanskaya (Алёна Ланская).  Alyona Lanskaya participated in Eurofest 2012 singing the song “All My Life” in a bid to represent Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 held in Baku, Azerbaijan. However she was later disqualified following an investigation about rigged televoting which made her song the winning entry. After advancing to the semi-finals that was held on December 21, 2011, she qualified for the Eurofest 2012 finals as one of the five chosen from the 15 entries. The finals was held on 14 February 2012 where the song came first and won by 12 points from televotes making the song Belarus’ entry for Eurovision Song Contest 2012. However on February 24, 2012 it was announced that Lanskaya was disqualified after the Belorussian President conducted an investigation leading to her “unfair” win in Eurofest 10 days earlier. There were rumours circulating that the producers had rigged the televoting giving her 12 points making her the winner. In response to the allegations, the president ordered an immediate investigation and it was later confirmed to be true. This was the first time that an act who won a national selection was disqualified since Ukraine’s original artist was disqualified in 2010. She was replaced by Litesound instead, who got second place in Eurofest finals, and were internally chosen as the new representatives of Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku.

• 🇮🇹 Italy: “Per Sempre” (Forever) (Italian) – Nina Zilli. Nina Zilli competed in the “Big Artists” section of the Festival di Sanremo 2012, placing seventh in a field of fourteen entries. During the contest, Zilli was also chosen by a specific jury to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 (was announced by the ESC 2011 winners Ell & Nikki), but it was announced that it would not be with her festival song.  After being confirmed as the Italian entry to the contest, one week later RAI and Universal Music Italy announced that the song was replaced by “L’amore è femmina (Out of Love)”, also performed by Nina Zilli in English-Italian language.

• 🇸🇲 San Marino: “Facebook Uh, Oh, Oh (A Satirical Song)” (Italian) – Valentina Monetta. “Facebook Uh, Oh, Oh (A Satirical Song)” was chosen internally by the San Marino broadcaster SMRTV to represent San Marino at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. On 18 March 2012, a few days after the song was announced, the EBU-UER deemed that the song contained an unreasonable commercial message for Facebook, which resulted in the lyrics’ disqualification; according to the Eurovision Rule 1.2.2.g, commercial messages within songs are not allowed. San Marino was given the option of submitting a new song, or revising the lyrics to remove any references to Facebook, no later than 12:00 CET on 23 March 2012. On 22 March 2012, SMRTV announced that the song and its lyrics has been revised with a new title, “The Social Network Song (OH OH – Uh – OH OH)”, with mostly the same lyrics, except without directly mentioning Facebook.

• 🇩🇰 Denmark: “Nowhere” (English) – Valen:Tine (Tine Lynggaa). Speaking of technicalities, last year’s Dansk Melodi Grand Prix allowed ‘Nowhere’, by Tine Lynggaa (performing as Valen:Tine) through to the National Finals. Even though it broke DR’s date rule, the October release still sneaked in under the EBU date of September 1st. Unfortunately it was never written as a Eurovision song, so the demo version uploaded to YouTube in the summer by Lynggaa was enough to qualify as a prior performance and into the ‘disqualified’ playlist went ‘Nowhere’.

Participation map

Participating countries Did not qualify from the semi final  Countries that participated in the past but not in 2012

ESC 2012 Scoreboard Grand Final Ι Detailed voting results:

Final:

ESC 2012 Scoreboard First Semi-Final Ι Detailed voting results:

First Semi-Final:

ESC 2012 Scoreboard Second Semi-Final Ι Detailed voting results:

Second Semi-Final:

The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the 57th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, following the country’s victory at the 2011 contest with the song “Running Scared” by Ell and Nikki. It was the first time Azerbaijan hosted the contest – only four years after the country made its debut. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster İctimai Television (İTV), the contest was held at the Baku Crystal Hall, and consisted of two semi-finals on 22 and 24 May, and a final on 26 May 2012. The three live shows were presented by Azerbaijani television presenter Leyla Aliyeva, model Nargiz Birk-Petersen and the previous edition’s winner Eldar Gasimov.

Forty-two countries participated in the contest. Montenegro returned to the contest for the first time since 2009. Meanwhile, Armenia withdrew due to security concerns in relation to the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan. Poland also did not participate due to financial concerns.

The winner was Sweden with the song “Euphoria”, performed by Loreen and written by Thomas G:son and Peter Boström. Russia, Serbia, host country Azerbaijan and Albania rounded out the top five, with Albania achieving their best result to date. Out of the “Big Five” countries, Germany, Italy and Spain all managed to rank within the top 10, finishing eighth, ninth and tenth, respectively.

The lead-up to the contest was met with political concerns and protests surrounding the host country, including its human rights record and allegations by advocacy groups that Baku was carrying out forced evictions in the construction of the contest’s venue, along with objections to the contest’s presence by Iranian officials – who felt that the event was anti-Islamic because it was, according to them, a “gay parade”.

1.Location. Azerbaijan got the right to host the 2012 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest after winning the previous 2011 edition with the song “Running Scared” performed by Ell and Nikki. Baku, the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region, was named the host city for the contest, with the venue being the Baku Crystal Hall, built a few months prior to the contest on the city’s coastline.

Shortly after Azerbaijan’s victory at the 2011 edition, officials announced that a new 23,000-seat concert venue was to be built near National Flag Square in Baku, as a potential venue for the event. Three days later, other venue options were revealed by organisers, such as the 37,000-seat Tofiq Bahramov Stadium and the Heydar Aliyev Sports and Exhibition Complex. On 2 August 2011, Alpine Bau Deutschland AG was awarded the contract to construct the Baku Crystal Hall. Preparations for construction began in the area shortly after the announcement. Even though the full cost of the contract was not named, the government allocated 6 million AZN for the construction of the venue.

On 8 September 2011, Azad Azerbaijan TV (ATV) reported that Baku Crystal Hall would be the venue of the contest, but no formal confirmation was made at the time by the EBU. On 31 October 2011, Ismayil Omarov, the director general of Azerbaijani national broadcaster İctimai Television announced that a decision on the venue choice would be taken by the steering committee in January 2012. On 25 January 2012, it was confirmed that the Baku Crystal Hall would be the venue of the contest. Even though the venue had an extended capacity of 23,000 people, only 16,000 people were able to attend each show. Tickets for the contest became available online for purchase on 28 February 2012.

2.Format. In a meeting of the Eurovision Reference Group on 29 June 2011, it was decided that the televoting system would revert the format used most recently in the 2009 contest, in which the phone and SMS lines opened for a fifteen-minute window after all songs had been performed, instead of opening before the show starts, which was the system used between 2010 and 2011. The results format of each show remained the same with each country’s votes being decided on a 50:50 split between televoting and a national jury. Each participating country had their own national jury, which consisted of five professional members of the music industry.

Under the official rules released on 24 November 2011, the number of participants in the grand final was raised to 26, including the host nation, the “Big Five”, and the ten qualifiers from each semi-final. This was the second time in the Eurovision Song Contest that 26 countries were in the grand final, the first being the 2003 contest.

2.1.Semi-final allocation draw. The draw that determined the semi-final running order was held on 25 January 2012 at the Buta Palace. The participating countries, excluding the automatic finalists (Azerbaijan, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom), were split into six pots, based upon how those countries voted in past contests. From these pots, half (or as close to half as possible) competed in the first semi-final on 22 May 2012. The other half in that particular pot competed in the second semi-final on 24 May 2012. This draw also acted as an approximate running order, in order for the delegations from the countries to know when their rehearsals would commence and determine which semi-final the automatic finalists would be allowed to vote in.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4	Pot 5	Pot 6
🇦🇱 Albania 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina 🇭🇷 Croatia 🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia 🇲🇪 Montenegro 🇷🇸 Serbia 🇨🇭 Switzerland	🇩🇰 Denmark 🇪🇪 Estonia 🇫🇮 Finland 🇮🇸 Iceland 🇳🇴 Norway 🇸🇪 Sweden	🇧🇾 Belarus 🇬🇪 Georgia 🇮🇱 Israel 🇲🇩 Moldova 🇷🇺 Russia 🇺🇦 Ukraine	🇦🇲 Armenia[a] 🇧🇪 Belgium 🇨🇾 Cyprus 🇬🇷 Greece 🇳🇱 The Netherlands 🇹🇷 Turkey	🇮🇪 Ireland 🇱🇻 Latvia 🇱🇹 Lithuania 🇲🇹 Malta 🇵🇹 Portugal 🇷🇴 Romania	🇦🇹 Austria 🇧🇬 Bulgaria 🇭🇺 Hungary 🇸🇲 San Marino 🇸🇰 Slovakia 🇸🇮 Slovenia

2.2.Graphic design. The design of the contest was built around the motto “Light your fire!”, inspired by the nickname of Azerbaijan itself, “Land of Fire”.

Each introductory video postcard began with a shot of the artist and performers, followed with the flag and country name in a handwritten font with a background resembling the yellow, orange and red fire of the 2012 theme art. The postcards consisted of various shots of Azerbaijan, with a caption displaying ‘Azerbaijan’ and underneath ‘Land of …’ (e.g. Land of Abundance; Land of Poetry etc.), which were then followed by the name of a town or geographic feature, showing the landscape and culture of the country. Some postcards focused on the host city of Baku with text changing to ‘Baku’ and underneath ‘City of …’ (e.g. City of Jazz; City of Leisure etc.). The postcards finished with a shot of the Crystal Hall displayed in the colours of the performing country’s flag. These postcards acted as a tourism mechanism to present the country to a wider audience.

The artist, song and number graphics as well as tables and voting graphics were kept the same as those used in 2011, with a slight modification to incorporate the 2012 theme art. The lower points (1-7) were highlighted in red squares while the top points (8, 10, 12) were highlighted in orange squares with each square increasing in size in relation to the point value. Both sets of graphics were designed by London brand design agency Turquoise Branding.

2.3.National host broadcaster. İctimai Television (İTV), which was the EBU member that broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest in Azerbaijan, is one of country’s public-service broadcasters. Deputy Minister of Communication and Information Technology of Azerbaijan, Iltimas Mammadov, stated that telecom networks were ready to host the event. Azerbaijan’s largest telecommunications operator, Azercell, was chosen as the presenting partner for the contest. On 1 December 2011, İTV named the German production company Brainpool as its official production partner for the contest, citing the quality of its work on the previous year’s contest.

3.Participating countries. On 17 January 2012, the EBU announced that initially forty-three countries would take part in the 2012 contest. The 57th edition saw the return of Montenegro, who was last represented by Andrea Demirović in 2009. Poland decided not to participate, due to the financial burden of the UEFA Euro 2012 (which Poland co-hosted with Ukraine) and the 2012 Summer Olympics. Armenia, who had originally planned to participate, later withdrew their application due to security concerns related to the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan, subsequently reducing the number of participating countries to 42.

3.1.Returning artists. Four artists returned in this year’s contest. Kaliopi for Macedonia who previously participated in the 1996 contest with the song “Samo ti”, which placed in 26th position in the pre-qualifying round. Kaliopi would then go on to represent Macedonia once more at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016.

Jónsi for Iceland and Željko Joksimović for Serbia both previously participated in 2004. Joksimović had represented Serbia and Montenegro in 2004 with the song “Lane moje” which placed second in that year, and co-hosted the 2008 contest with Jovana Janković. Jónsi performed “Heaven” in 2004, which placed 19th.

For a second consecutive year Jedward participated for Ireland, after their 8th-place finish at the 2011 contest with the song “Lipstick”.

Martina Majerle, who represented Slovenia in 2009, returned as a backing vocalist for Slovenia.

Lys Assia, the winner of the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956, had entered her song “C’était ma vie” written by Ralph Siegel and Jean Paul Cara into the Swiss national selection for the 2012 contest. The song, however, only came eighth in a closely fought national selection. Assia attended the event in Baku as a guest of honour.

3.2.Languages. The Finnish entry, “När jag blundar”, sung by Pernilla Karlsson, was only Finland’s second entry in Swedish (after “Fri?” by Beat in 1990) and the first entry at all to be sung in Swedish since 1998. Russia’s entry, “Party for Everybody”, sung by Buranovskiye Babushki, was the first entry ever to be performed in Udmurt. The Georgian entry, “I’m a Joker” was the first Eurovision entry containing the Georgian language while the Bulgarian song “Love Unlimited” had a few words in the Azerbaijani language, both of whom never appeared at the contest before.

3.3.Semi-final 1. Azerbaijan, Italy and Spain voted in the first semi-final. The EBU allowed the Albanian broadcaster Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH) to defer transmission and only use jury votes due to the Qafa e Vishës bus accident.

3.4.Semi-final 2. France, Germany and the United Kingdom voted in the second semi-final. Germany requested that they vote in this semi-final. Before it withdrew, Armenia was drawn to perform in the first half of this semi-final.

3.5.Final.

3.6.Participants and results. 

3.7.All the national selections for Eurovision Song Contest 2012: 

• National Selections in 2012:

COUNTRY	EVENT	WINNER
🇦🇱 Albania	Festivali i Këngës #50	Rona Nishliu – “Suus“
🇦🇹 Austria	Österreich rockt den Song Contest	Trackshittaz – “Woki mit deim Popo“
🇦🇿 Azerbaijan	Milli Seçim Turu 2012 (artist selection) [n]	Sabina Babayeva – “When the Music Dies”
🇧🇾 Belarus	Eurofest 2012	Litesound – “We Are the Heroes”
🇧🇪 Belgium	Eurosong 2012: Een song voor Iris (song selection) [o]	Iris – “Would You?”
🇧🇬 Bulgaria	Bylgarskata pesen za Evroviziya 2012	Sofi Marinova – “Love Unlimited”
🇨🇾 Cyprus	A Song for Ivi (song selection) [p]	Ivi Adamou – “La La Love”
🇩🇰 Denmark	Melodi Grand Prix 2012	Soluna Samay – “Should’ve Known Better”
🇪🇪 Estonia	Eesti Laul 2012	Ott Lepland – “Kuula“
🇫🇮 Finland	Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2012	Pernilla Karlsson / Pernilla – “När jag blundar“
🇬🇪 Georgia	(Georgian Selection 2012)	Anri Jokhadze – “I’m a Joker”
🇩🇪 Germany	Unser Star für Baku	Roman Lob – “Standing Still”
🇬🇷 Greece	Ellinikós Telikós 2012	Eleftheria Eleftheriou – “Aphrodisiac”
🇭🇺 Hungary	A Dal 2012	Compact Disco – “Sound of Our Hearts”
🇮🇸 Iceland	Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2012	Gréta Salóme & Jónsi – “Never Forget” / “Mundu eftir mér”
🇮🇪 Ireland	Eurosong 2012	Jedward – “Waterline”
🇱🇻 Latvia	Eirodziesma 2012	Anmary – “Beautiful Song”
🇱🇹 Lithuania	Eurovizija atranka Lietuvoje 2012	Donny Montell – “Love Is Blind”
🇲🇹 Malta	MESC 2012	Kurt Calleja – “This Is the Night”
🇲🇩 Moldova	Selecția Națională 2012	Pasha Parfeny – “Lăutar“
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	Nationaal Songfestival 2012	Joan Franka – “You and Me”
🇳🇴 Norway	Melodi Grand Prix 2012	Tooji – “Stay”
🇵🇹 Portugal	Festival da Canção 2012	Filipa Sousa – “Vida minha“
🇷🇴 Romania	Selecția Națională 2012	Mandinga – “Zaleilah”
🇷🇺 Russia	Evrovidenie 2012	Buranovskiye Babushki – “Party for Everybody”
🇸🇮 Slovenia	EMA 2012	Eva Boto – “Verjamem“
🇪🇸 Spain	Eurovisión – Pastora Soler (song selection) [q]	Pastora Soler – “Quédate conmigo“
🇸🇪 Sweden	Melodifestivalen 2012	Loreen – “Euphoria”
🇨🇭 Switzerland	Die Große Entscheidungsshow 2012	Sinplus – “Unbreakable”
🇺🇦 Ukraine	Vidbir 2012	Gaitana – “Be My Guest”

• Internal Selections in 2012:

3.8.Connections:

4.Detailed voting results. The EBU and PwC audit company checked and verified the individual jury and televoting results, which were combined to create the overall national vote for the contests. On 18 June 2012, the EBU published the following results.^[54][55]

4.1.Semi-final 1.

Split results of semi-final 1

Place	Combined		Jury		Televoting
	Country	Points	Country	Points	Country	Points
1	🇷🇺 Russia	152	🇦🇱 Albania	131	🇷🇺 Russia	189
2	🇦🇱 Albania	146	🇲🇩 Moldova	107	🇷🇴 Romania	132
3	🇷🇴 Romania	120	🇬🇷 Greece	103	🇦🇱 Albania	131
4	🇬🇷 Greece	116	🇨🇾 Cyprus	90	🇮🇪 Ireland	116
5	🇲🇩 Moldova	100	🇷🇴 Romania	87	🇬🇷 Greece	110
6	🇮🇪 Ireland	92	🇩🇰 Denmark	81	🇨🇾 Cyprus	99
7	🇨🇾 Cyprus	91	🇭🇺 Hungary	76	🇲🇩 Moldova	85
8	🇮🇸 Iceland	75	🇷🇺 Russia	75	🇮🇸 Iceland	79
9	🇩🇰 Denmark	63	🇮🇱 Israel	72	🇩🇰 Denmark	53
10	🇭🇺 Hungary	52	🇮🇪 Ireland	72	🇨🇭 Switzerland	49
11	🇨🇭 Switzerland	45	🇮🇸 Iceland	70	🇭🇺 Hungary	39
12	🇫🇮 Finland	41	🇫🇮 Finland	57	🇫🇮 Finland	36
13	🇮🇱 Israel	33	🇨🇭 Switzerland	45	🇸🇲 San Marino	25
14	🇸🇲 San Marino	31	🇸🇲 San Marino	42	🇲🇪 Montenegro	24
15	🇲🇪 Montenegro	20	🇧🇪 Belgium	38	🇱🇻 Latvia	18
16	🇱🇻 Latvia	17	🇲🇪 Montenegro	28	🇮🇱 Israel	16
17	🇧🇪 Belgium	16	🇦🇹 Austria	27	🇦🇹 Austria	15
18	🇦🇹 Austria	8	🇱🇻 Latvia	17	🇧🇪 Belgium	2

Detailed voting results of semi-final 1

		Total score
C o n t e s t a n t s	🇲🇪 Montenegro	20					12						8
	🇮🇸 Iceland	75	5		5	5			4	5	10	4	3	8	10	1	4	2	2			1	6
	🇬🇷 Greece	116	10	5			8	12	3	8		3	7	12	4	5		1	10	10	10	5	3
	🇱🇻 Latvia	17	2													4			4	4	3
	🇦🇱 Albania	146	12	3	10	4		4	12	10	5	5	10	10	7	2	10	12	1	1	12	12	4
	🇷🇴 Romania	120	7	4	8		5		2	4		8	6	6	1	8	3	5	12	12	7	10	12
	🇨🇭 Switzerland	45		2		7	3	2				1	1	2			8	3	8			8
	🇧🇪 Belgium	16			4		2	1			2									6			1
	🇫🇮 Finland	41		7		6	1		1	1		2			8		12			3
	🇮🇱 Israel	33				1		5			3			1	3	6	5	7					2
	🇸🇲 San Marino	31	4		2		10												7		5	3
	🇨🇾 Cyprus	91	6	12	12	3	6	7		3	1	10				7			3	5	1	7	8
	🇩🇰 Denmark	63		8	1	8		3	10		8		4	4		3	1			7		6
	🇷🇺 Russia	152	8	6	7	12		6	8	12	12	12	2	7	12		7	10	6	8	8	2	7
	🇭🇺 Hungary	52					7	8	6	6	4			5	5			4	5		2
	🇦🇹 Austria	8		1					5	2
	🇲🇩 Moldova	100	3		6	2	4	10	7		6	6	5	3	6	12	2	6		2	6	4	10
	🇮🇪 Ireland	92	1	10	3	10				7	7	7	12		2	10	6	8			4		5

4.1.1.12 points. Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the first semi-final:

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
5	🇦🇱 Albania	🇦🇹 Austria, 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan, 🇮🇹 Italy, 🇲🇪 Montenegro, 🇨🇭 Switzerland
	🇷🇺 Russia	🇧🇪 Belgium, 🇩🇰 Denmark, 🇫🇮 Finland, 🇮🇱 Israel, 🇱🇻 Latvia
3	🇷🇴 Romania	🇮🇪 Ireland, 🇲🇩 Moldova, 🇪🇸 Spain
2	🇨🇾 Cyprus	🇬🇷 Greece, 🇮🇸 Iceland
	🇬🇷 Greece	🇨🇾 Cyprus, 🇷🇴 Romania
1	🇫🇮 Finland	🇭🇺 Hungary
	🇮🇪 Ireland	🇸🇲 San Marino
	🇲🇩 Moldova	🇷🇺 Russia
	🇲🇪 Montenegro	🇦🇱 Albania

4.2.Semi-final 2.

Split results of semi-final 2

Place	Combined		Jury		Televoting
	Country	Points	Country	Points	Country	Points
1	🇸🇪 Sweden	181	🇸🇪 Sweden	145	🇸🇪 Sweden	180
2	🇷🇸 Serbia	159	🇷🇸 Serbia	141	🇷🇸 Serbia	148
3	🇱🇹 Lithuania	104	🇺🇦 Ukraine	109	🇱🇹 Lithuania	128
4	🇪🇪 Estonia	100	🇪🇪 Estonia	102	🇹🇷 Turkey	114
5	🇹🇷 Turkey	80	🇲🇹 Malta	97	🇪🇪 Estonia	88
6	🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina	77	🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina	77	🇳🇴 Norway	72
7	🇲🇹 Malta	70	🇭🇷 Croatia	66	🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina	70
8	🇺🇦 Ukraine	64	🇬🇪 Georgia	62	🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia	63
9	🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia	53	🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia	58	🇧🇬 Bulgaria	59
10	🇳🇴 Norway	45[h]	🇱🇹 Lithuania	55	🇳🇱 The Netherlands	51
11	🇧🇬 Bulgaria	45[h]	🇧🇾 Belarus	52	🇲🇹 Malta	39
12	🇭🇷 Croatia	42	🇵🇹 Portugal	49	🇧🇾 Belarus	37
13	🇵🇹 Portugal	39	🇹🇷 Turkey	42	🇵🇹 Portugal	37
14	🇬🇪 Georgia	36	🇸🇮 Slovenia	40	🇭🇷 Croatia	34
15	🇳🇱 The Netherlands	35[i]	🇸🇰 Slovakia	40	🇸🇰 Slovakia	32
16	🇧🇾 Belarus	35[i]	🇳🇱 The Netherlands	31	🇸🇮 Slovenia	27
17	🇸🇮 Slovenia	31	🇧🇬 Bulgaria	27	🇺🇦 Ukraine	24
18	🇸🇰 Slovakia	22	🇳🇴 Norway	25	🇬🇪 Georgia	15

Detailed voting results of semi-final 2

		Total score
C o n t e s t a n t s	🇷🇸 Serbia	159		12	10	5	8	8	8	12	12	10	8	10		1	8	10	10	2	12	10	3
	🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia	53	8			1	2		5	7	6	7		1	8				8
	🇳🇱 The Netherlands	35									2		1		7	7		3		3		8	4
	🇲🇹 Malta	70	3	2	2		5		6	6	4	5	4	4	6	3	2			6			12
	🇧🇾 Belarus	35		1	1	4			12			2		8						7
	🇵🇹 Portugal	39			6						3	3			1		5	5	4	1	8	3
	🇺🇦 Ukraine	64	4	3		6	12	2		5		1	6	6		5	1	2	2	5	2		2
	🇧🇬 Bulgaria	45	2	6		2		6							10			6	3		3	2	5
	🇸🇮 Slovenia	31	10	4								8							5			4
	🇭🇷 Croatia	42	12	7			1		1		8								12			1
	🇸🇪 Sweden	181	7	8	12	8	7	10	7	10	10	6		12	5	12	12	12	7	10	6	12	8
	🇬🇪 Georgia	36					6	1	10						3	4				12
	🇹🇷 Turkey	80		10	7	12			2	8			7	3		2	3	1	6		7	6	6
	🇪🇪 Estonia	100			8		4	12	3	3	1		12	7			10	8		8	10	7	7
	🇸🇰 Slovakia	22	1			7		4					3			6					1
	🇳🇴 Norway	45			3	3	3	3		2			10		4	8	4		1	4
	🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina	77	5	5	5			5		1	5	12	5	2	12		6	4			4	5	1
	🇱🇹 Lithuania	104	6		4	10	10	7	4	4	7	4	2	5	2	10	7	7			5		10

4.2.1.12 points. Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the second semi-final:

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
6	🇸🇪 Sweden	🇪🇪 Estonia, 🇬🇪 Georgia, 🇩🇪 Germany, 🇳🇱 The Netherlands, 🇳🇴 Norway, 🇸🇰 Slovakia
4	🇷🇸 Serbia	🇧🇬 Bulgaria, 🇫🇷 France, 🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia, 🇸🇮 Slovenia
2	🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina	🇭🇷 Croatia, 🇹🇷 Turkey
	🇭🇷 Croatia	🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina, 🇷🇸 Serbia
	🇪🇪 Estonia	🇵🇹 Portugal, 🇸🇪 Sweden
1	🇧🇾 Belarus	🇺🇦 Ukraine
	🇬🇪 Georgia	🇱🇹 Lithuania
	🇲🇹 Malta	🇬🇧 United Kindom
	🇹🇷 Turkey	🇲🇹 Malta
	🇺🇦 Ukraine	🇧🇾 Belarus

4.3.Final.

Split results of the final

Place	Combined		Jury		Televoting
	Country	Points	Country	Points	Country	Points
1	🇸🇪 Sweden	372	🇸🇪 Sweden	296	🇸🇪 Sweden	343
2	🇷🇺 Russia	259	🇷🇸 Serbia	173	🇷🇺 Russia	332
3	🇷🇸 Serbia	214	🇦🇱 Albania	157	🇷🇸 Serbia	211
4	🇦🇿 Azerbaijan	150	🇮🇹 Italy	157	🇹🇷 Turkey	176
5	🇦🇱 Albania	146	🇪🇸 Spain	154	🇦🇿 Azerbaijan	151
6	🇪🇪 Estonia	120	🇪🇪 Estonia	152	🇩🇪 Germany	125
7	🇹🇷 Turkey	112	🇺🇦 Ukraine	125	🇷🇴 Romania	117
8	🇩🇪 Germany	110	🇦🇿 Azerbaijan	118	🇦🇱 Albania	106
9	🇮🇹 Italy	101	🇲🇩 Moldova	104	🇬🇷 Greece	89
10	🇪🇸 Spain	97	🇩🇪 Germany	98	🇮🇪 Ireland	89
11	🇲🇩 Moldova	81	🇷🇺 Russia	94	🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia	79
12	🇷🇴 Romania	71[j]	🇨🇾 Cyprus	85	🇪🇪 Estonia	78
13	🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia	71[j]	🇫🇷 France	85	🇲🇩 Moldova	75
14	🇱🇹 Lithuania	70	🇱🇹 Lithuania	82	🇱🇹 Lithuania	68
15	🇺🇦 Ukraine	65	🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina	71	🇨🇾 Cyprus	63
16	🇨🇾 Cyprus	65	🇲🇹 Malta	70	🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina	57
17	🇬🇷 Greece	64	🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia	69	🇮🇹 Italy	56
18	🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina	55	🇬🇷 Greece	60	🇪🇸 Spain	45
19	🇮🇪 Ireland	46	🇮🇸 Iceland	53	🇮🇸 Iceland	39
20	🇮🇸 Iceland	46	🇷🇴 Romania	53	🇺🇦 Ukraine	37
21	🇲🇹 Malta	41	🇩🇰 Denmark	51	🇬🇧 United Kindom	36
22	🇫🇷 France	21	🇹🇷 Turkey	50	🇭🇺 Hungary	20
23	🇩🇰 Denmark	21	🇭🇺 Hungary	30	🇩🇰 Denmark	18
24	🇭🇺 Hungary	19	🇳🇴 Norway	24	🇳🇴 Norway	16
25	🇬🇧 United Kindom	12	🇮🇪 Ireland	14	🇲🇹 Malta	10
26	🇳🇴 Norway	7	🇬🇧 United Kindom	11	🇫🇷 France	0

Detailed voting results of the final

		Total score
C o n t e s t a n t s	🇬🇧 United Kindom	12							1																							5		2										4
	🇭🇺 Hungary	19			7										1			1						8															2
	🇦🇱 Albania	146		10	1	8			10		1	12			5	10	6		4	12	3	4	5		12				1				5	1		6	3	12	1	6		8
	🇱🇹 Lithuania	70		1				8		4	4		3	7					5							1				6		3		4			12				5			7
	🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina	55		6		7									10					1	7		10	2	7														5
	🇷🇺 Russia	259	3	4	4	5	10	12	8	10	3	10	4	3	7	4	3	6	6		8	5	6	3	4	4	8	7	7	8	6	8	8	10	8	8	5	10	7	7		7	7	6
	🇮🇸 Iceland	46																			4	1		4						5		6	6		4	7				3		6
	🇨🇾 Cyprus	65	6		2					2						12												8	12						5			5	8		2		3
	🇫🇷 France	21				2											2			6								6	2					3
	🇮🇹 Italy	101	7	2			4				10	7	1			3		5		5	5	2	2	5	5		2			4	4	7	3		1		4			2		5	4	2
	🇪🇪 Estonia	120					1	4					10	4				2						10		7	7	10	8	7	8			8	6	10				4	6			8
	🇳🇴 Norway	7																								3		1	3
	🇦🇿 Azerbaijan	150	4	5			12	7			12	4		2	12	5	7	10	10			8		6	2						12						10		3		10		8	1
	🇷🇴 Romania	71							3	6			2		4	7		12				3					4						1		10			7			1		6	5
	🇩🇰 Denmark	21																										5		2		2				5		2		5
	🇬🇷 Greece	64	12		8		5		2	5					3		1	4	1			12															1		4	1	3		2
	🇸🇪 Sweden	372	5	7	10	12	6	6	12	7	6	3	12	12	6	6	8	7	8	7	10	10	7	12	6	12	3	12		12	10	12	12	12	12	12	8		10	12	12	12	12	12
	🇹🇷 Turkey	112	10		3	3			7	12	8	5	5	1			4		7	3					8	8			6		1		2				7			8		3	1
	🇪🇸 Spain	97			6	6			6			1	6	8			5		3	8		6				6	12	2	4			4				3						1	10
	🇩🇪 Germany	110	2			4					2		7	6						4	2		4			2	10			3	3	10	10	7	3	1	2	8				10		10
	🇲🇹 Malta	41					7	3		8		2		5	2										1						7								6
	🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia	71	8	8			3	2							8		12		2		6		8	1														1	12
	🇮🇪 Ireland	46						1	4	1				10									3			5		4	5				4	5		4
	🇷🇸 Serbia	214	1	12	5	10	2		5		5	6	8			8	10	3	12	10	12	7	12	7	10	10	5	3	10	10	5					2		6		10	4	4
	🇺🇦 Ukraine	65						10		3	7					1		8							3		1			1	2	1		6	2		6	3			8			3
	🇲🇩 Moldova	81		3	12	1	8	5				8				2				2	1		1				6						7		7			4			7	2	5

4.3.1.12 points. Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the grand final:

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
18	🇸🇪 Sweden	🇦🇹 Austria, 🇧🇪 Belgium, 🇩🇰 Denmark, 🇪🇪 Estonia, 🇫🇮 Finland, 🇫🇷 France, 🇩🇪 Germany, 🇭🇺 Hungary, 🇮🇸 Iceland, 🇮🇪 Ireland, 🇮🇱 Israel, 🇱🇻 Latvia, 🇳🇱 The Netherlands, 🇳🇴 Norway, 🇷🇺 Russia, 🇸🇰 Slovakia, 🇪🇸 Spain, 🇬🇧 United Kindom
4	🇦🇱 Albania	🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia, 🇮🇹 Italy, 🇸🇲 San Marino, 🇨🇭 Switzerland
	🇦🇿 Azerbaijan	🇱🇹 Lithuania, 🇲🇹 Malta, 🇹🇷 Turkey, 🇺🇦 Ukraine
	🇷🇸 Serbia	🇧🇬 Bulgaria, 🇭🇷 Croatia, 🇲🇪 Montenegro, 🇸🇮 Slovenia
2	🇨🇾 Cyprus	🇬🇷 Greece, 🇸🇪 Sweden
	🇬🇷 Greece	🇦🇱 Albania, 🇨🇾 Cyprus
	🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia	🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina, 🇷🇸 Serbia
1	🇱🇹 Lithuania	🇬🇪 Georgia
	🇲🇩 Moldova	🇷🇴 Romania
	🇷🇴 Romania	🇲🇩 Moldova
	🇷🇺 Russia	🇧🇾 Belarus
	🇪🇸 Spain	🇵🇹 Portugal
	🇹🇷 Turkey	🇦🇿 Azerbaijan

4.3.2.Spokespersons. The order in which each country announced their vote was determined in a draw following the jury results from the final dress rehearsal. Similar to the 2011 contest an algorithm was used to add as much excitement as possible. The spokespersons are shown alongside each country.

5.Other countries.

• 🇦🇩 Andorra – On 19 October 2011, Andorra announced that there are no plans for the country to participate in 2012 due to financial difficulties; the country also had planned to withdraw from the EBU entirely.
• 🇦🇲 Armenia – On 7 March 2012, the EBU announced that Armenian Public Television (ARMTV) had decided to withdraw from participation despite originally being included in the list of participating countries. Its decision came after President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan gave a speech on 28 February 2012 when he stated “Our main enemies are Armenians of the world and the hypocritical and corrupt politicians under their control.” The country was consequently fined by the EBU and were expected to face further penalties, such as exclusion from participation in future contests if it failed to comply with the EBU requirements. Armenia had been in a continuous state of war with Azerbaijan since the early 1990s because of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
• 🇨🇿 Czech Republic – On 24 November 2011, it was reported that the Czech Republic would not compete at the 2012 contest, following the release of a television schedule by Česká televize (ČT).
•  Liechtenstein – On 26 November 2011, it was announced that two official EBU documents, published in March and October 2011, showed Liechtenstein’s only national broadcaster 1FLTV as being granted active EBU membership, sparking speculations of a début for the nation. However, on 29 November 2011, these documents were later confirmed as editing mistakes, and thus a début had yet to be planned.
• 🇱🇺 Luxembourg – On 31 December 2011, RTL Luxembourg confirmed that Luxembourg would not participate at the Eurovision in Baku.
• 🇲🇨 Monaco – It had been reported on 23 November 2011, at an EBU meeting in Geneva, that Monaco were considering a return to the 2012 contest. However, on 3 December 2011, Phil Bosco, a former head of delegation told a French-speaking website that the Monegasque national broadcaster Télé Monte Carlo (TMC) did not intend to return to the Eurovision Song Contest any time in the near future, as there were no financial budget available.
•  Morocco – In an interview with the French delegation it had been revealed that Morocco were “likely to return” to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012 with a new broadcaster 2M TV. Reports about the proposed return of Morocco to the contest, after an absence of more than 30 years, were further enhanced at an EBU meeting in Geneva.
• 🇵🇱 Poland – On 16 December 2011, it had been reported on the official Facebook page of Telewizja Polska (TVP) that Poland were not returning for the 2012 contest. This was confirmed a few days later, stating that the broadcaster had decided to focus on the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship (which Poland co-hosted with Ukraine) and Summer Olympics. TVP stated that a return in 2013 has not been ruled out.

6.Broadcasts. Most countries sent commentators to Baku or commentated from their own country, in order to add insight to the participants and, if necessary, the provision of voting information.

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries

Country	Show(s)	Broadcaster(s)	Commentator(s)	–
🇦🇱 Albania	All shows	TVSH	Andri Xhahu
🇦🇹 Austria	All shows	ORF eins	Andi Knoll	–
	Final		Stermann and Grissemann and Lukas Plöchl
🇦🇿 Azerbaijan	All shows	İTV	Konul Arifgizi and Saleh Baghirov	–
🇧🇾 Belarus	All shows	Belarus-1	Denis Kurian
🇧🇪 Belgium	All shows	één, Radio 2	Dutch: André Vermeulen and Peter Van de Veire	–
		La Une	French: Jean-Pierre Hautier and Jean-Louis Lahaye	–
🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina	All shows	BHT 1	Dejan Kukrić	–
🇧🇬 Bulgaria	All shows	BNT	Georgi Kushvaliev and Elena Rosberg
🇭🇷 Croatia	All shows	HRT 1	Duško Ćurlić
🇨🇾 Cyprus	All shows	RIK 1	Melina Karageorgiou	–
🇩🇰 Denmark	All shows	DR1, DR HD	Ole Tøpholm	–
🇪🇪 Estonia	All shows	ETV	Marko Reikop
🇫🇮 Finland	All shows	YLE TV2, YLE HD	Finnish: Tarja Närhi and Tobias Larsson	–
		YLE FST5	Swedish: Eva Frantz and Johan Lindroos
		YLE Radio Suomi	Finnish: Sanna Kojo and Jorma Hietamäki
🇫🇷 France	SF2	France Ô	Audrey Chauveau and Bruno Berberes	–
	Final	France 3	Cyril Féraud and Mireille Dumas	–
		France Bleu	Fabien Lecœuvre and Serge Poezevara
🇬🇪 Georgia	All shows	1TV	Temo Kvirkvelia
🇩🇪 Germany	All shows	Das Erste	Peter Urban	–
		NDR 2	Thomas Mohr	–
		hr3	Tim Frühling	–
🇬🇷 Greece	All shows	NET	Maria Kozakou	–
🇭🇺 Hungary	All shows	m1	Gábor Gundel Takács	–
🇮🇸 Iceland	All shows	Sjónvarpið	Hrafnhildur Halldorsdóttir	–
🇮🇪 Ireland	Semi-finals	RTÉ Two	Marty Whelan	–
	Final	RTÉ One
		RTÉ Radio 1	Shay Byrne and Zbyszek Zalinski	–
🇮🇱 Israel	All shows	IBA	No commentary
🇮🇹 Italy	SF1	Rai 5	Federica Gentile	–
	Final	Rai 2	Filippo Solibello and Marco Ardemagni	–
🇱🇻 Latvia	All shows	LTV1	Valters Frīdenbergs	–
	Final		Kārlis Būmeisters	–
🇱🇹 Lithuania	All shows	LRT	Darius Užkuraitis
🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia	All shows	MRT	Karolina Petkovska
🇲🇹 Malta	All shows	TVM	Elaine Saliba and Ronald Briffa
🇲🇩 Moldova	All shows	Moldova 1	Marcel Spătari
🇲🇪 Montenegro	All shows	TVCG 1	Dražen Bauković and Tamara Ivanković
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	All shows	Nederland 1	Jan Smit and Daniël Dekker	–
🇳🇴 Norway	All shows	NRK1	Olav Viksmo-Slettan	–
🇵🇹 Portugal	All shows	RTP1	Pedro Granger	–
🇷🇴 Romania	All shows	TVR 1	Leonard Miron and Gianina Corondan	–
🇷🇺 Russia	All shows	Russia-1	Olga Shelest and Dmitry Guberniev	–
🇸🇲 San Marino	All shows	SMtv San Marino	Lia Fiorio and Gigi Restivo	–
🇷🇸 Serbia	SF1	RTS1	Dragan Ilić	–
	SF2/Final		Duška Vučinić-Lučić
🇸🇰 Slovakia	All shows	Jednotka, Rádio Slovensko	Roman Bomboš
	Final	Rádio FM	Daniel Baláž and Pavol Hubinák	–
🇸🇮 Slovenia	All shows	RTV SLO	Andrej Hofer
🇪🇸 Spain	SF1	La 2	José María Íñigo	–
	Final	La 1
🇸🇪 Sweden	All shows	SVT1	Gina Dirawi and Edward af Sillén	–
		SR P3	Carolina Norén and Björn Kjellman
🇨🇭 Switzerland	SF1/Final	SF zwei	German: Sven Epiney	–
		RTS Deux	French: Jean-Marc Richard and Nicolas Tanner	–
	SF1	RSI La 2	Italian: Clarissa Tami and Paolo Meneguzzi	–
	Final	RSI La 1
🇹🇷 Turkey	All shows	TRT 1, TRT HD, TRT Türk, TRT Müzik, TRT Avaz	Bülend Özveren and Erhan Konuk	–
🇺🇦 Ukraine	All shows	First National	Timur Miroshnychenko and Tetyana Terekhova	–
🇬🇧 United Kindom	Semi-finals	BBC Three	Scott Mills and Sara Cox	–
	Final	BBC One	Graham Norton	–
		BBC Radio 2	Ken Bruce	–

Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries

Country	Show(s)	Broadcaster(s)	Commentator(s)	–
🇦🇲 Armenia	All shows	Armenia 1	Gohar Gasparyan and Artur Grigoryan	–
🇦🇺 Australia	All shows[l]	SBS One	Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang	–
China	Final[m]	CCTV-15	No commentary
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan	All shows	Arna Media	Norberg Makhambetov and Kaldybek Zhaysanbay
Kyrgyzstan	All shows	KTRK	Elmar Osmonov and Aibek Akmatov

7.Incidents.

7.1.Human rights concerns. Azerbaijan’s large investment in hosting the Eurovision contest was widely discussed in Western media as an attempt to “mitigate misgivings about its poor democracy and human rights record”. Elnur Majidli, an activist imprisoned during the Arab Spring-inspired 2011 Azerbaijani protests, was released in an apparent effort to soften Azerbaijan’s image ahead of the contest, but many political prisoners remained. Human Rights Watch reported a “violent crackdown on protesters” on the eve of the contest, and Amnesty International condemned the “stern crackdown of freedom of expression, dissent, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), critical journalists, in fact anyone who criticised the Aliyev regime too strongly” that continued up to the contest.

Human Rights Watch also criticised the Azerbaijani government and the Baku City Authority for carrying out forced evictions against local residents, in order to allow for the demolition of flats to make way for construction in the neighbourhood where the Baku Crystal Hall was built. The Public Association for Assistance to Free Economy, a transparency and economic rights campaign group, had described the evictions as a “violation of human rights”, and as having “no legal authority”. However, in a statement to the BBC, the EBU said that on a recent visit to Baku they had observed “that the construction of the concert hall [which] media reports refer to was already well under way on a clean construction site and thus there are no demolitions needed”. The EBU cited the “apolitical” nature of the contest and the Azerbaijani government’s claim that the construction was not tied to the contest.

The contest’s eventual winner Loreen met local human rights activists during the contest, the only entrant to do so. She later told reporters, “Human rights are violated in Azerbaijan every day. One should not be silent about such things.” An Azerbaijan government spokesman criticized her in response, saying that the contest should not “be politicised” and requested the EBU prevented further meetings of a similar nature. Swedish diplomats replied that the EBU, the Swedish broadcaster SVT and Loreen had not acted against the competition’s rules.

On 26 May, a flash mob of anti-government protesters were quickly dispersed by police. Activists expressed fears that they would face a crackdown when the international spotlight left Azerbaijan again at the end of the contest. Before presenting the results of the German vote, the German spokesperson Anke Engelke gave a live statement that alluded to the human rights issues in Azerbaijan, saying: “Tonight nobody could vote for their own country. But it is good to be able to vote. And it is good to have a choice. Good luck on your journey, Azerbaijan. Europe is watching you.”

7.2.Tensions with Iran. Iranian officials objected to Azerbaijan hosting the contest, with Iranian clerics Ayatollah Mohammad Mojtahed Shabestari and Ayatollah Ja’far Sobhani condemning Azerbaijan for “anti-Islamic behaviour”, while also claiming that Azerbaijan was hosting a gay parade. This led to protests in front of Iranian embassy in Baku, where protesters carried slogans mocking the Iranian leaders. Ali Hasanov, head of the public and political issues department in Azerbaijani president’s administration, said that gay parade claims were untrue, and advised Iran not to meddle in Azerbaijan’s internal affairs. In response, Iran recalled its ambassador from Baku, while Azerbaijan demanded a formal apology from Iran for its statements in connection with Baku’s hosting of the contest, and later also recalled its ambassador from Iran.

On 30 May, the Ministry of National Security of Azerbaijan announced that they had thwarted a series of planned terror attacks against the contest, among the targets being Baku Crystal Hall, as well as Marriott and Hilton hotels in Baku. On 22 August, The Daily Telegraph reported that according to Western intelligence services, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei personally gave orders to the elite Quds Force unit to launch terrorist attacks against the West and its allies, including Azerbaijan during the contest.

8.Other awards. In addition to the main winner’s trophy, the Marcel Bezençon Awards and the Barbara Dex Award were contested during the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest. The OGAE, “General Organisation of Eurovision Fans” voting poll also took place before the contest.

8.1.Marcel Bezençon Awards. The Marcel Bezençon Awards, organised since 2002 by Sweden’s then-Head of Delegation and 1992 representative Christer Björkman, and 1984 winner Richard Herrey, honours songs in the contest’s final. The awards are divided into three categories: Artistic Award, Composers Award, and Press Award.

Category	Country	Song	Performer(s)	Composer(s)
Artistic Award	🇸🇪 Sweden	“Euphoria”	Loreen	Thomas G:son Peter Boström
Composers Award
Press Award	🇦🇿 Azerbaijan	“When the Music Dies”	Sabina Babayeva	Anders Bagge Sandra Bjurman Stefan Örn Johan Kronlund

8.2.OGAE. OGAE, an organisation of over forty Eurovision Song Contest fan clubs across Europe and beyond, conducts an annual voting poll first held in 2002 as the Marcel Bezençon Fan Award. After all votes were cast, the top-ranked entry in the 2012 poll was also the winner of the contest, “Euphoria” performed by Loreen; the top five results are shown below.

Country	Song	Performer(s)	OGAE result
🇸🇪 Sweden	“Euphoria”	Loreen	375
🇮🇹 Italy	“L’amore è femmina (Out of Love)”	Nina Zilli	212
🇮🇸 Iceland	“Never Forget”	Greta Salóme and Jónsi	211
🇷🇸 Serbia	“Nije ljubav stvar“	Željko Joksimović	199
🇳🇴 Norway	“Stay”	Tooji	164

8.3.Barbara Dex Award. The Barbara Dex Award is a humorous fan award given to the worst dressed artist each year. Named after Belgium’s representative who came last in the 1993 contest, wearing her self-designed dress, the award was handed by the fansite House of Eurovision from 1997 to 2016 and is being carried out by the fansite songfestival.be since 2017.

Place	Country	Performer(s)	Votes
1	🇦🇱 Albania	Rona Nishliu	829
2	🇮🇪 Ireland	Jedward	551
3	🇧🇬 Bulgaria	Sofi Marinova	232
4	🇳🇱 The Netherlands	Joan Franka	163
5	🇺🇦 Ukraine	Gaitana	145

9.Official album. Eurovision Song Contest: Baku 2012 was a compilation album put together by the European Broadcasting Union, and released by Universal Music Group on 4 May 2012. The album featured all 42 songs that entered in the 2012 contest, including the semi-finalists that failed to qualify into the grand final.

9.1.Charts.

Chart (2012)	Peak position
German Compilation Albums (Offizielle Top 100)	2

10.Notes.

11.Trivial / Fun facts.

• Buranovskiye Babushki had 404 years among them.
• Televoting would once again start after all the songs were performed, not from the first song.
• 42 broadcasters took part while initially 43 had signed up for it. Armenian broadcaster ARMTV pulled out last minute.
• Euphoria received the highest number of 12 points of any entry with 18 countries giving the song their top marks.

← Eurovision Song Contest 2011 • Eurovision Song Contest 2012 • Eurovision Song Contest 2013 →
Countries (in order of appearance)
Final	United Kingdom ⦁ Hungary ⦁ Albania ⦁ Lithuania ⦁ Bosnia and Herzegovina ⦁ Rusia ⦁ Iceland ⦁ Cyprus ⦁ France • Italy ⦁ Estonia ⦁ Norway • Azerbaijan ⦁ Romania • Denmark ⦁ Greece ⦁ Sweden (winner) • Turkey ⦁ Spain ⦁ Germany ⦁ Malta ⦁ FYRO Macedonia ⦁ Ireland ⦁ Serbia ⦁ Ukraine ⦁ Moldova
First Semi-Final	Montenegro ⦁ Iceland ⦁ Greece ⦁ Latvia ⦁ Albania ⦁ Romania ⦁ Switzerland ⦁ Belgium ⦁ Finland • Israel ⦁ San Marino • Cyprus • Denmark ⦁ Russia (winner) ⦁ Hungary ⦁ Austria ⦁ Moldova ⦁ Ireland
Second Semi-Final	Serbia ⦁ FYRO Macedonia ⦁ The Netherlands ⦁ Malta ⦁ Belarus ⦁ Portugal ⦁ Ukraine ⦁ Bulgaria ⦁ Slovenia • Croatia ⦁ Sweden (winner) ⦁ Georgia ⦁ Turkey • Estonia • Slovakia • Norway ⦁ Bosnia and Herzegovina ⦁ Lithuania
Artists (in order of appearance)
Final	Engelbert Humperdinck ⦁ Compact Disco ⦁ Rona Nishliu ⦁ Donny Montell ⦁ Maya Sar ⦁ Buranovskiye Babushki ⦁ Greta Salóme and Jónsi ⦁ Ivi Adamou ⦁ Anggun ⦁ Nina Zilli ⦁ Ott Lepland ⦁ Tooji • Sabina Babayeva ⦁ Mandinga ⦁ Soluna Samay ⦁ Eleftheria Eleftheriou • Loreen (winner) ⦁ Can Bonomo ⦁ Pastora Soler • Roman Lob ⦁ Kurt Calleja ⦁ Kaliopi • Jedward ⦁ Željko Joksimović • Gaitana • Pasha Parfeny
First Semi-Final	Rambo Amadeus ⦁ Greta Salóme and Jónsi ⦁ Eleftheria Eleftheriou ⦁ Anmary ⦁ Rona Nishliu ⦁ Mandinga ⦁ Sinplus ⦁ Iris ⦁ Pernilla ⦁ Izabo • Valentina Monetta ⦁ Ivi Adamou ⦁ Soluna Samay • Buranovskiye Babushki (winner) • Compact Disco ⦁ Trackshittaz ⦁ Pasha Parfeny • Jedward
Second Semi-Final	Željko Joksimović ⦁ Kaliopi ⦁ Joan Franka ⦁ Kurt Calleja ⦁ Litesound ⦁ Filipa Sousa ⦁ Gaitana ⦁ Sofi Marinova ⦁ Eva Boto ⦁ Nina Badrić • Loreen (winner) ⦁ Anri Jokhadze ⦁ Can Bonomo • Ott Lepland • Max Jason Mai ⦁ Tooji ⦁ Maya Sar • Donny Montell
Songs (in order of appearance)
Final	“Love Will Set You Free” ⦁ “Sound of Our Hearts” ⦁ “Suus” ⦁ “Love Is Blind” ⦁ “Korake ti znam” ⦁ “Party for Everybody” ⦁”Necer Forget” ⦁ “La La Love” ⦁ “Echo (You and I)” • “L’amore è femmina (Out of Love)” • “Kuula” • “Stay” ⦁ “When the Music Dies” ⦁ “Zaleilah” ⦁ “Should’ve Known Better” • “Aphrodisiac” • “Euphoria” (Winner) • “Love Me Back” • “Quédate conmigo” • “Standing Still” • “This Is the Night” ⦁ “Crno i belo” (Црно и бело) • “Waterline” • “Nije ljubav stvar” (Није љубав ствар) • “Be My Guest” • “Lăutar“
First Semi-Final	“Euro Neuro” ⦁ “Never Forget” ⦁ “Aphrodisiac” ⦁ “Beautiful Song” ⦁ “Suus” ⦁ “Zaleilah” ⦁ “Unbreakable” ⦁ “Would You?” ⦁ “När jag blundar” • “For Life” • “Time” • “The Social Network Song (Oh Oh – Uh – Oh Oh)” • “La La Love” • “Party for Everybody” (winner) • “Sound of Our Hearts” ⦁ “Woki mit deim Popo” • “Lăutar” • “Waterline”
Second Semi-Final	“Nije ljubav stvar” (Није љубав ствар) ⦁ “Crno i belo” (Црно и бело) ⦁ “You and Me” ⦁ “This Is the Night” ⦁ “We Are the Heroes” ⦁ “Vida minha” ⦁ “Be My Guest” ⦁ “Love Unlimited” ⦁ “Verjamem” • “Nebo” • “Euphoria” (Winner) • “I’m a Joker” • “Love Me Back” • “Kuula” • “Don’t Close Your Eyes” ⦁ “Stay” • “Korake ti znam” • “Love Is Blind”
Non-participating entries: Belarus: Alyona Lanskaya (Алёна Ланская) – “All My Life” • Italy: Nina Zilli – “Per Sempre” (Forever) • San Marino: Valentina Monetta – “Facebook Uh, Oh, Oh (A Satirical Song)”