Country Lithuania Selection date(s) 31 December 1998 Selected song "Strazdas" | Selection process National Final Selected entrant Aistė Final result 20th, 13 points | |
Lithuania returned to the Eurovision Song Contest in 1999, having withdrawn after their debut entry in 1994. Lithuania's second Eurovision entry came from Aistė, who performed "Strazdas" (The song thrush) at the 1999 Contest in Jerusalem, Israel.
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National final
For Lithuania's return to Eurovision after five years, the Lithuanian broadcaster Lietuvos radijas ir televizija (LRT) held a national final to select the second Lithuanian entry. The contest was held on 27 December 1998, but was not broadcast on television until 31 December, and was recorded in the capital Vilnius, hosted by Vilija Grigonyte and Vytautas Kernagis. Both televoting and jury voting was used during the show, however only the votes of the jury decided the winner.
The televote results showed that RebelHeart had won with 40%, with Aistė Smilgevičiūtė coming second with 33%. The winner was decided by a jury, with only the top 4 songs being known. The winner of the jury vote was Aistė with "Strazdas", performed in Samogitian, a dialect of Lithuanian.
At Eurovision
Aistė opened the 1999 contest, performing first in a field of 23, preceding Belgium in the running order. "Strazdas" received 13 points: 1 point from Malta, two points each from Estonia and Croatia, three points from Israel, and 5 points from Cyprus, placing 20th in a field of 23. As such Lithuania was relegated from the 2000 Contest, due to low average scores over the past five years.