Russian TV channel uncovers fraud in talent show voting

MOSCOW – Russia’s Channel One TV has annulled the results of a popular TV talent show after uncovering evidence of fraud in its most recent competition that led to a landslide win for a pop star’s daughter.

Mikella Abramova, the 11-year-old daughter of former Eurovision contestant Alsou and Azerbaijani banker Yan Abramov, won the sixth season of the highly popular Golos dyeti (The Voice Kids) show with 56.5% of the vote. The contestant in second trailed far behind.

Channel One on Thursday quoted an investigation by a cybersecurity firm that revealed a high proportion of automated votes via text messages. The probe was launched after the results provoked an outcry on social media, with many users claiming the vote had been rigged because of the abnormally high number of votes cast for Abramova.