Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song "Loca" written by Arsenium. The song was performed by Arsenium and Natalia Gordienko featuring Connect-R. The Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) organised the national final O melodie pentru Europa 2006 in order to select the Moldovan entry for the 2006 contest in Athens, Greece. An initial 40 entries competed to represent Moldova in Athens, with 13 being shortlisted to participate in the televised national final which took place on 25 February 2006. The combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote resulted in a tie that was not resolved, and therefore a second final took place on 15 March 2006 with five entries participating. "Loca" performed by Arsenium and Natalia Gordienko featuring Connect-R emerged as the winner after gaining the most points following the combination of votes from the jury and public televote.
As one of the ten highest placed finishers in 2005, Moldova automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Performing during the show in position 2, Moldova placed twentieth out of the 24 participating countries with 22 points.
Background
Prior to the 2006 Contest, Moldova had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest one time since its first entry in 2005, with the song "Boonika bate doba" performed by Zdob și Zdub qualifiying Moldova to compete in the final and placing sixth. The Moldovan national broadcaster, TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM), broadcast the event within Moldova and organised the selection process for the nation's entry. TRM confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest on 6 January 2006. Moldova has selected their entry via a national selection show in 2005, a procedure that was continued for their 2006 participation.
Before Eurovision
O melodie pentru Europa 2006
O melodie pentru Europa 2006 was the national final format developed by TRM in order to select Moldova's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. The event was to include a semi-final and a final to be held on 5 and 25 February 2006, respectively. However, a second final was held on 15 March 2006 after the first final ended without selecting a winner. All shows in the competition were broadcast on Moldova 1 and Radio Moldova as well as online via TRM's official website trm.md.
Format
The selection of the competing entries for the national final and ultimately the Moldovan Eurovision entry took place over three rounds. The first round occurred on 30 January 2006 where a jury panel selected 25 semi-finalists from the received submissions to proceed to the second round, the televised national final. 25 semi-finalists competed in the semi-final on 5 February 2006. Thirteen songs qualified to the final based on the votes from an expert jury. The thirteen qualifying entries competed in the final on 25 February 2006 where the winner was selected based on the combined votes from an expert jury and public televoting results. In the event of a tie, the tie was resolved by an additional expert jury vote. Failing that, the entry that receives the vote from the youngest member of the jury would have been declared the winner. Since the jury was unable to select a winner following both tie-breaks, a second final took place on 15 March 2006 where five entries competed. The winner was selected by the 50/50 combination of an expert jury vote and a public televote. In the event of a tie, the tie would have been resolved by the youngest jury member's vote. Failing that, the entry that receives the highest score from the public televote would have been declared the winner.
Competing entries
Artists and composers had the opportunity to submit their entries between 6 January 2006 and 27 January 2006. Songwriters were also required to submit an English and a French version of the song lyrics. At the conclusion of the submission deadline, 40 valid entries out of 42 were received by the broadcaster; "Lumea dansează" performed by Gheorghe Olărescu was disqualified, while "Nu-mi jură" performed by Stela Mitriuc was withdrawn from the competition. A jury selected 25 semi-finalists out of the 40 received entries, which were announced on 31 January 2006.
Semi-final
The semi-final took place on 5 February 2006 at TRM Studio 2 in Chișinău and aired on 8 February 2006. In the semi-final twenty-five acts competed and thirteen songs qualified to the final based on the votes of an expert jury.