As the deadline to submit songs in Spain comes closer, the country's public broadcasting corporation RTVE has disclosed today that “around 240 entries” have been submitted so far in order to take part in the Spanish national selection for Eurovision 2010. Several names have already been reported to have sent in their songs to the competition.

Next Tuesday, January 12th, the deadline to submit songs for the Spanish national selection Tu país te necesita expires. The country's broadcaster, RTVE, has revealed today that the number of submissions so far is "around 240". Last year, 978 songs were submitted and 455 of them were allowed to go through the preliminary online stage of the preselection.

After the submissions period closes, RTVE will publish the list with all the candidates that comply with the regulations and are therefore eligible to compete at the national selection. The voting will then start, running through three weeks. Every user will be granted 5 votes per day and valid e-mail account. RTVE will foresee the whole voting process to avoid fraudulent ballots.

Among those artists who wish to represent Spain in Oslo, several names have already been reported, such as José Galisteo (finalist at Operación Triunfo 2006), Ainhoa (winner of Operación Triunfo 2003), Virginia (2009 national final) or Bizarre (2008 and 2009 national finals), to name a few.

From next week, and once the official list of candidates in the running to represent Spain this year in Eurovision is announced, esctoday.com will be bringing you extensive coverage on the artists and the developments of the national selection.