The song Voda (Water) by Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yankulov won the competition for Bulgaria’s representative at Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in the Finnish capital of Helsinki.

The 31 376 spectator granted the song solid lead over its competitors. Popular pop-duo Karizma ranked second collecting only 5232 votes.

A total of 12 songs reached the final stage of the competition in Bulgaria. The audience had 10 minutes to vote via SMS.

According to the rules spectators could vote only five times from one mobile phone.

Todorova and Yankulov’s song was one of the three songs produced by Bulgarian National Television (BNT) which entered directly the semifinal of the competition.

The song relies on Bulgarian folk motives and was one of the few to be performed in Bulgarian rather than English. Todorova specialised in folk singing and combined the folk style with modern rhythms.

Mariyana Popova and Azis, who represented Bulgaria in last year’s edition o f Eurovision, were among the performers to take part in the show on February 24.

The Eurovision Song Contest will be held on May 12 2007.