Spanish semi-finalists chosen!
20 January 2009 at 18:14 CETAfter a month of voting on the broadcaster's website, the five participants in every given category will now proceed to the televised semi-finals of the Spanish selection.
Among the fifty artists the most votes were given to Melody Y Los Vivancos and Soraya. Other big favorites were Santa Fe, La La Love you, Noelia Cano, El secreto de Alex, Normativa Vigente, Roel, Julia Bermejo, Vicente Casal, Virginia, Biquini, Yulia Valentayn, Jorge González, Calipop, Diquesí, Elektronikboy, Mirela, Atalis and Oskee. A total of 5,8 million votes were received.
These 20 will now go directly to the semi-finals but 30 of all the chosen entries will be the subject of jury-castings. Ten of them will qualify for the semi-finals. The full list can be seen on TVE's website.
Three songs out of ten semi-finalists will then qualify for the Grand Final. A second chance will exist for the ones who got the fourth place in the semi-finals, though. Namely, during the third semi-final the audience will have an opportunity to vote for their favorite, making one of them the tenth finalist.
In the final a jury and televoters will share their power and both account for 50% of the votes. The jury was also chosen the same way as the participants, the winners being Isaac Urrea Jose Garcia Hernandez, Miguel Angel Mur, Pedro Martínez and Victor Escudero in the end.
The upcoming semi-finals and the final will take place in February and March.