Spanish voting process on the RTVE website has just finished at 23:59 CET and we already have the five acts that top each of the 10 categories. The overall winner of this first stage of Eurovisión 2009: El Retorno is Melody y Los Vivancos, who has drawn attention these days due to her fierce battle with Soraya Arnelas for the top of the scoreboard. Also we already know that the national final will take place on Saturday, 7th of March, preceded by three semifinals.

As of 23:59 CET, the time of the polls' closure, and one day before the publication by RTVE of the final list of qualified acts for the series of televised semifinals, the top-5 places in each category is as follows (this is subject to small changes as the computers tally and record the late voting. The numbers and list may change slightly before RTVE announce the definitive result tomorrow):

Pop/Rock

1. Soraya – La noche es para mí (198,356)
2. Normativa Vigente – Alejandría the new generation (104,565)
3. Carlos Barroso – Mentira (102,722)
4. Roel – Y ahora dices (100,345)
5. Noelia Cano – Cruza los dedos (98,634)

Romantic

1. Julia Bermejo – Ya no estás (83,027)
2. Vicente Casal – Tú me complementas (79,142)
3. Virginia – True love (72,394)
4. Rafa Saez – Y tú decides volver (46,766)
5. La Red de San Luis – Gracias, Madre Tierra (35,596)

Metal

1. Leather Boys – We're livin' in a bar (31,762)
2. Remembrances – Espejismo (30,916)
3. No Life After Love – Time (29,541)
4. Bloodsuckers – The anthem of the vampires (26,655)
5. Midnight – Bloody brutality (24,589)

Electronic

1. Electronikboy – Mon petit oiseau (55,747)
2. Oskee – No quiero despertar (47,860)
3. Atalis – Retrato frontal (47,763)
4. Solydo – Tú (45,475)
5. Izan – Prisionero de tu corazón (44,032)

Latin

1. Melody y Los Vivancos – Amante de la Luna (205,561)
2. Santa Fe – You got me hot (130,077)
3. Jorge González – Si yo vengo a enamorarte (59,911)
4. Salva Ortega – Lujuria (39,474)
5. Dulce – Bésame (36,520)

Hip-hop/Rap

1. Ron – Siente (7,202)
2. Jammy & Shark – Presentí tu amor (5,272)
3. Patrix y Los Raperos – La fuerza de la unión (2,238)
4. Depresión Post-Parto – Un día sin fuste (1,226)
5. Adrián – Se puede olvidar (108)

Indie

1. La La Love You – Dame un beso (107,816)
2. Biquini – Una chica normal (60,386)
3. Yulia Valentayn – Uh la la (59,080)
4. Calipop – Burbuja (58,186)
5. Carolina del Sur – Hace tiempo (57,647)

Flamenco

1. Rafael Sánchez Gálvez – Si tú me quieres (12,462)
2. Iko de la Illa – Trono sin reino (8,263)
3. Fran Arenas – La echo de menos (7,890)
4. Mari Callas – Otra vez (7,371)
5. Sin Tanto – Gitana (7,216)

R&B

1. Mirela – Nada es comparable a ti (51,325)
2. Jaime Rojo Contreras – Unión (34,898)
3. Vilas Mata – Dance with me (34,675)
4. Omi Di – Touch my heaven (33,296)
5. Ángeles Vela – Vístete de primavera (32,507)

Other

1. Gran Baobab – Despedida de soltero (38,869)
2. Carlos Ferrer Eai – El patito (38,471)
3. Isi – Ahora no (34,826)
4. Beatriz – ¿Dónde te metes? (34,114)
5. David Caballero – Tango Visión (33,018)

Jury

The winner of the public voting to become the 5th member of the expert jury that will step in the semifinals and the final of Eurovisión 2009: El Retorno is Isaac Urrea Esteban, with 14,958 votes. José García Hernández 'Luka', of partner website eurovision-spain.com, who has led the scoreboard since the very beginning of the competition, has been displaced to position number 2 for some 600 votes today.

After a dramatic battle that has taken place over the past days, finally Melody y Los Vivancos have won the online competition, with some 8,000 votes ahead of her immediate prosecutor, Soraya. In the past few weeks, the two of them were continuously swapping the 1st and 2nd places, with a very scarce difference between them of some tens of hundreds of votes in the most of the cases.

We have also known today that the date chosen by RTVE to hold the national final is Saturday March 7th, thus making Spain one of the latest countries that will decide upon its representative. The final will be preceded by three semifinals -to be aired on February 14th, 21st and 28th-,where the 50 selected acts will compete. The list of those 50 lucky hopefuls will be made public tomorrow by the Spanish broadcaster, and could slightly vary from the results shown above.

Stay with us for the release of the list and further developments on the Spanish 2009 Eurovision selection.

A very special thanks to Tomás Rodríguez for his contribution to the article.

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