Dijana Åtraus Svetlik has spoken out about the changes to the EMA voting and national selection process that Slovenia will use to choose its 2010 Eurovision Song Contest entry. Two major changes for 2010 are that the public will determine the winner by 100% televoting, and the song will be performed at the Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo in Slovenian.
The date for EMA 2010 has not yet been set because they have to match the program with the broadcast of the Olympic Games. She also explained the reason for 100% televoting being introduced for the first time.
The major change being introduced to EMA 2010 is that the voting will consist of televoting 100%. There will only be a back-up jury in case anything goes wrong technically. This is the first time that Slovenia's Eurovision Song Contest selection will be a fully public selection:
"Over the past few years we have tried virtually all evaluation and voting options, both in combination with a jury and voting in multiple rounds. This time we decided that the decision for the winner is left to the viewers which of course gives additional responsibilities to the jury responsible for the selection of the songs in the competition. Special number and letter codes rather than the authors' names will be the way for the jury to identify the songs. We hope that with these two amendments we will be able to refute the concerns of the public regarding the winner of the selection" explains Dijana.
Inviting a few established authors from Slovenia remains a part of the selection process. RTV Slovenia will invite up to seven established authors to join the race for Oslo 2010. "The authors will be chosen by a jury on the basis of a broader survey conducted among musical and Eurovision Song Contest experts."
There is, however, one more novelty regarding the selection: The winner of EMA 2010 will have to perform the song in Oslo in Slovenian language. Dijana Štraus Svetlik explains:
"During the years when we decided differently about the language we encountered some legal regulations that establish certain limits (restrictions) to RTV Slovenija as a public institution. Those decisions caused controversy among professional and public audiences. Legal regulations, although having several interpretations for different occasions, are still valid despite debates about the authors' artistic rights and promotion of Slovenian culture in foreign languages. We therefore decided to respect them and take them full into account."
