Ovidiu Anton who was due to represent Romania at Eurovision 2016, will be performing at the countries 2017 selection semi final.

TVR the Romanian national broadcaster has announced that Ovidiu Anton will be performing in the semi final of the countries Eurovision 2017 selection. Ovidiu Anton won last years Romanian selection process with “Moment of Silence” and was due to represent the country in Stockholm, Sweden.

However just three weeks before the contest, Romania was forced to withdraw from the contest after TVR the national broadcaster was removed from the European Broadcasting Union. TVR had failed to pay debts totaling over 16 million Swiss Francs. Ovidiu was later invited by the Moldovan entrant Lidia Isac to perform alongside her in Stockholm, but declined the offer.

The submissions process for Romania’s selection for Kyiv is currently open. The dates of the Romanian selection shows are as follows:

Semi Final – February 26

Final – March 5

Romania’s selection will consist of two shows. The first being a semi final made up of 15 songs these participants will be announced at the latest by February 15. A combination of jury voting and public televote will decide the 10 artists who will make it through to the final. The final will then be held with 10 songs competing, the winner will be decided by televote and a jury.

Source: TVR

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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.

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