Country Moldova Final result 20th, 22 points | Selected song "Loca" | |
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Selection process National Final
50% Jury
50% Televoting Selection date(s) First National Final
Semi-final
4 February 2006
Final
25 February 2006
Second National Final
15 March 2006 Selected entrant Arsenium and Natalia Gordienko feat. Connect-R | ||
Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens, Greece. The Moldovan entry was selected through the second of two national finals, organised by the Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM). The initial multi-phase national selection process resulted in a deadlock tie between three songs, which ultimately led to the organisation of a second national final. Arsenium and Natalia Gordienko featuring Connect-R represented Moldova with the song "Loca", which was a direct finalist and placed 20th in the final, scoring 22 points.
Contents
First national final
On 6 January 2006, TRM announced plans for a national selection and invited artists to submit their entries until 27 January 2006. The first Moldovan selection occurred in three phases: the first phase involved an expert jury selecting a 25 entries from the received submissions to compete in the second phase, the semi-final. 13 entries qualified from the semi-final to compete in the last phase, the final. At the close of the submission deadline, 42 entries were received and on 31 January 2006, a jury panel shortlisted 25 entries to compete in the semi-final.
Semi-final
On 4 February 2006, the semi-final phase took place at TRM Television Studios in Chisinau and on 8 February it was broadcast on television. A jury panel exclusively selected 13 finalists for the final.
Final
The first Moldovan national final took place on 25 February 2006 at the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Chisinau. The combination of televoting (50%) and an eight-member jury vote (50%) resulted in the three-way tie between "Made in Moldova" performed by Serj Cuzencoff, "Sing your song" performed by Moldstar and Alexa and "Zii lauta" performed by Geta Burlacu. Under the competition's tiebreak rules, the youngest member of the jury was required to cast the deciding vote and select the winner, however, the juror abstained from voting. The national final ended without selecting a winning song.
Second national final
On 8 March 2006, the TRM organizing committee announced that a second national final would take place on 15 March 2006. The rules of the first national final stated that if TRM was not satisfied with the quality of the songs, it possessed the right to nullify the result of the selection and choose an alternative entry. An additional submission period for new entries was open until 14 March 2006. The three songs that tied in the first national final were invited to participate, however, only Serj Cuzencoff accepted the invitation while Geta Burlacu and Moldstar and Alexa declined.
Five songs competed in the second Moldovan national final, which was held at TRM Television Studios in Chisinau and was hosted by Rusalina Rusu and Bogdan Dascal. In the event of another tie, the youngest juror would cast the deciding vote. Failing that, the televote winner would be declared the winner. After the combination of televoting (50%) and jury voting (50%) Arsenium and Natalia Gordienko featuring Connect-R were the winners with the song "Loca".
At Eurovision
Moldova qualified to compete directly in the final after placing 6th in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005. In the final, Moldova was drawn to perform 2nd, following Switzerland and preceding Israel. The Moldovan entry scored a total of 22 points and placed 20th in the final.