Moldovan broadcaster TRM has revealed part of the international jury panel for Selecția Națională 2026.
How the winner will be decided
According to the event’s producer, Roman Burlaca, the method is the following:
- 33% represents the public vote, via application, with a mobile phone number
- 33% goes to the national jury, consisting of 15 members, an expanded number to eliminate any suspicion
- 33% is the vote of the international jury, made up of five established artists, former Eurovision participants and winners.
Among the notable names are Paula Seling (Romania’s 2010, 2014 representative), Efendi (Azerbaijan’s Eurovision 2020, 2021 representative) and Jamala (Ukraine’s Eurovision 2016 winner).
What to expect
Special guests of past Eurovision Moldovan artists like Nelly Ciobanu, SunStroke Project, Natalia Barbu, DoReDoS, Natalia Gordienko, Cristina Scarlat and Zdob și Zdub will perform on stage. Burlaca talked about the 16 competitors:
“There are a lot of young participants, artists that not many people necessarily know, but we see them as very willing, very focused and very talented. Initially we had 40 participants in the auditions, and 16 reached the grand final. I hope the audience sees that this selection was deserved and that we don’t have any artists to be ashamed of.”
He is also very happy about Moldova’s return, bringing a new National final format, and added:
“It is truly a different format for Eurovision in Moldova. We are very happy that both our colleagues from Teleradio-Moldova and the local suppliers managed to cope with the technical and creative tasks we set ourselves. We have 16 capable participants, and after the rehearsals we understand that they will have a worthy performance ,” said Roman Burlaca.
According to the producer, public interest is high, and tickets sold out before the finale.
Moldova’s Eurovision journey
Moldova is relatively new to the Eurovision Song Contest, joining in 2005. Their debut entry, Zdob și Zdub, finished in 6th place, which had remained their highest scoring entry up until 2017. They were dethroned by returners Sunstroke Project and the song ‘Hey Mamma’, which finished in 3rd place. At the close of voting, Moldova received 374 points.
After representing Moldova in 2007, Natalia Barbu returned to Eurovision in 2024 with the song “In the Middle”. She received 20 points in the first semifinal, ultimately placing thirteenth and missing out on the grand final.
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News Source: M1
Photo Credit: TRM
Tim J 
Euan T 
Samantha