Arad and Iasi have been confirmed as the host cities for the two semi-finals of Selectia Nationala 2019 in Romania.
Adevarul reports that Arad and Iasi have been selected to host the semi-finals of Selectia Nationala 2019. Arad confirmed that the city would host the competition last week, while Iasi has approved funding to assist with hosting over the course of the weekend.
Polivalenta Hall, the City Hall and the County Council in Iasi will provide 230,000 lei (49,500 Euro) each towards the costs of hosting the competition. The funding provided by the local authorities will go towards the staging of the contest, accommodation for participants and to advertise the city to the rest of Romania.
The date of the semi-finals according to local media reports are:
- January 20 – Semi-Final One – Arad
- January 27 – Semi-Final Two – Iasi
- February – Final – Bucharest
The 24 semi-finalists will be revealed on December 20. In each of the two semi-finals, a national jury will select up to five songs to qualify for the final and public voting will pick one more. TVR also reserves the right to select one wildcard act. This means that no more than 13 entries will compete in the final.
The final will be held in February. For the first time in Selecția Națională history, an international jury will help select the Romanian Eurovision representative. They make up 50% of the vote. The other 50% will come from public voting. In case of a tie, the international jury will decide who will represent Romania in Tel Aviv.
The Humans represented Romania at the 2018 contest in Lisbon where they narrowly missed out on qualifying for the grand final, finishing 11th with their song “Goodbye”. This marked the first time that Romania has failed to qualify for the grand final since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004.
Source: Adevarul
Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest
Romania first participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994, the country had tried to participate in 1993 but failed to get through the pre-qualifying round. At the 1994 contest Dan Bittman finished 21st in the final scoring 14 points, Romania didn’t make it through to another final until 1998. Romania’s best results in the contest are two third place finishes. In 2005 Luminita Anghel & Sistem finished 3rd scoring 158 points, while Paula Seling & Ovi finished 3rd in Oslo with the song “Playing with Fire”. Romania missed the 2016 contest due to TVR being removed from the EBU.
