More than 11,300 signatures have been collected on the ManaBalss platform from Latvian citizens in favour of Latvia leaving the Eurovision Song Contest, the Baltic News Network reports.
As more than 10,000 Latvian citizens have signed the petition, it will now be submitted to the Latvian parliament Saeima for review.
The authors of the petition call for the Eurovision financing to be diverted towards sports.
“I call for Latvia’s participation in Eurovision to be terminated. It is doubtful whether this event significantly contributes to the image and reputation of Latvia. People who participate there tend to behave obscenely, and this is also stated as the norm,” says the author of the initiative Kristaps Bogdanovičs.
“There are European countries that do not participate in Eurovision for various reasons, including financial reasons, and Latvia should better invest its already problematic public funding where we have clear benefits – in sports,” he adds. “It is unacceptable for the Biathlon Federation to have to collect donations for the World Championship, which is definitely more important than Eurovision.”
Lithuania’s Silvester Belt with his song Luktelk finished 14th in this year’s Eurovision in Malmö, Sweden, while Latvia’s Dons with his song Hollow finished in 16th place.
Meanwhile, Switzerland’s Nemo became the first non-binary person to win Eurovision, but this year’s song contest was marred by scandals. Dutch representative Joost Klein was disqualified from the Eurovision final after Swedish police launched an investigation following a complaint made by a member of the production team. Other performers also quoted tensions backstage over Israel’s participation in the competition and the organisers’ ban on Palestinian flags and support messages.
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