Moldova: O melodie pentru Europa to take place in February

Moldovan broadcaster TRM today announced that O melodie pentru Europa would return once again as Moldova’s Eurovision selection process. This comes after reports that TRM may have favoured an internal selection for 2017 due to a deep financial crisis at the broadcaster. Nevertheless, the crisis is still visible as the 2017 selection has been downsized. Rather than using two semi-finals as in previous years, only one will be used in 2017. The single semi-final will consist of 14 acts, and eight of these will progress to the grand final. The two shows will take place on 24th and 25th February respectively.

Submissions are already open!

In order to not waste any more time, entries can be submitted into the selection right now. The submissions process will remain open until 18th January. Acts will then be invited to a live audition, to be broadcast on Moldova 2 TV channel, on 21st January. An expert jury will then select the 14 acts that will take part in the live semi-final the following month.
Unlike in 2015 when Ukrainian Eduard Romanyuta won the title, the lead vocalist must be a Moldovan citizen. International singers can only take part if it is in collaboration with a Moldovan singer. This may open a door for 2016 Moldovan representative Lidia Isac who duetted with Italian vocalist Daniele Guastella for the 2017 Swiss national selection. Unfortunately she did not make it to the final 6 in Switzerland, so perhaps she could try her luck in Moldova once again? Check out their song below:

A jury and televote to determine the winner

Once at the semi-final stage, the jury will select four acts to progress to the final. A televote will then commence in order to choose four further acts from the remaining ten. A significant change for 2017 is that only one vote per telephone number will be permitted. This is aimed to prevent any competitor manipulating the televote for their personal advantage. In the final, the winner will be determined by a classic 50/50 voting method as used in previous years.
Which artists would you like to see submit an entry into Moldova’s selection process for 2017? Are you pleased TRM chose to stick with their national selection process? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!