Date 23 February 2008 | ||
The Romanian National Final Selecţia Naţională 2008 was held on February 23, 2008. Artists were able to start submitting songs in December. A professional jury had to select 24 songs out of 282 to compete in the national final. Four reserve songs were also chosen in case of any disqualifications or withdrawals before the first semifinal.
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Maya from Slovenia was among one of the artists chosen to compete in the national final, but withdrew her song because it had been accepted in the Irish national selection. Maya & the composer of the song, Ziga Pirnat, thought that they would have a better chance in the Irish National Final because they would only have to compete against five other songs, as opposed to 23 in Romania.
The band 3rei Sud Est had also announced their participation with the song Vorbe care dor but withdrew long before the semifinals.
Following the second semifinal, on the 19th of February, Catalin Josan decided to withdraw "When We're Together" from the contest so as to increase his chances for a better result (so fan votes would not be split between the two songs). Having the next best score, RailRoad, RailRoad by Rednex feat. Ro-mania entered the contest.
VH2 also withdrew their song, "Follow Me" because of a possible plagiarism claim. TVR received an email from a source wishing to remain anonymous, pointing out that the song was very similar to a 10-year-old song. Even though the band denied all accusations of plagiarism, they admitted that the two songs are very similar. Tied for the next finalist alongside New Effect feat. Gentiana, Nico decided to withdraw her solo song (Fight for Life) and only play the duet with Vlad Mirita. However, since New Effect, as well as Adrian Enache (who had the next closest score) announced they would be unavailable for the evening of the final, Yana with their song Ce'est la vie became that last lucky finalists.
In order to give all of the songs an equal change, a new jury was selected for the national final because the first jury would most likely have voted the same way as they had in the semifinals.
Semifinals
Before the final there will be two Semi-Finals: on February 9 and February 16, 2008. A total of twelve songs will participate in each Semi-Final and the top 6 will qualify for the National Final. The voting will be a mix of Televoting (50%) and a professional jury (50%). The National Final is expected to be held in January or February.
Semifinal 1
The 1st semifinal will take place on the 9th of February and will air on TVR 1 & TVRi from 20.15 to 22.00
Semifinal 2
The second semifinal will take place on the 16th of February. It will air on TVR 1 & TVRi from 20.15
Final
The final will take place on Saturday, February 23, 2008. Six songs from the first semifinal and six songs from the semifinal will compete in order to decide which song will be sent to the Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade.