Bulgarian Roma superstar Azis is almost sure to stage in Athens' finals of Eurovision 2006 together with Mariana Popova's Let Me Cry.

The famed Roma transvestite aged 28, who performs back vocals to Mariana, did not attend the Bulgarian finals on Saturday to avoid speculations he might have pumped up the vote.

Mariana Popova was declared the winner after receiving 24.05% of the total votes, or some 15,000 SMS votes and 4,700 phone calls.

Only hours after her win of the second ever Bulgarian Eurovision Song Contest selection claims were made by her opponents that elements of the voting system were unfair.

In an open letter addressed to the director of Bulgarian broadcaster BNT, artists have protested that technical faults occurred, which eventually affected the outcome of the contest.

The complaint concerns the time limit imposed by BNT on the voting window. Up to five calls could be made from a single number, within a ten-minute period. This move was prompted by last year's scandal with suspected vote rigging for winners from Kaffe.

Finalists 2006 claim that many of their supporters were unable to get through in this short time, and call for a fresh round of voting.

Mariana and Azis will sing Let Me Cry at the international qualifier round in Athens in May.