The Ukrainian national broadcaster UA:PBC and the organizing board for VIdbir 2022 have offered the runner ups of the competition, Kalush Orchestra, the golden ticket to Eurovision 2022 after Alina Pash’s withdrawal.

The Organizing Committee of the National Selection (Vidbir 2022) has decided to invite Kalush Orchestra who placed 2nd in the competition to represent Ukraine at the upcoming 2022 Eurovision Song Contest in Turin. This was decided during a special meeting today.  The band is yet to answer to the committee’s offer.

UA:PBC released the following statement regarding this matter earlier today:

Today, February 17, at an extraordinary meeting of the Organizing Committee of the National Selection for Eurovision-2022, it was decided to apply to the Kalush Orchestra with a proposal to represent Ukraine at the International Song Contest Eurovision-2022 in Turin.

Kalush Orchestra took second place in the final and received 14 points in total, of which a maximum of 8 points from the audience and 6 points from the judges.

It should be noted that the Public Broadcaster monitors compliance with the Rules of National Selection and the procedure for determining a representative from Ukraine.

According to paragraph 3.4 of the Rules, in case of termination of Public participation in the Selection of the participant who is determined / declared the winner of the Selection, Public has the right to decide on the appointment of a representative from Ukraine in the competition from among other finalists.

It is important for the broadcaster to maintain the trust of the audience in the song contest, so Public offers the band that took second place in the final and received the most support from the audience to represent Ukraine at Eurovision-2022, guided by the principle of ranking the finalists.

We will remind, on Wednesday, February 16, the Organizing Committee made the decision on the termination of participation in Selection of Alina Pash.

We yet have to wait and see if Kalush Orchestra will represent Ukraine at ESC 2022 with their entry ‘Stefania‘.

Alina Pash was set to represent Ukraine at the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest after winning Vidbir 2022 but was forced to withdraw her participation due to the backlash she faced concerning her travel documents to Crimea during her trip in 2015.

UA:PBC released the following statement yesterday after Alina Pash’s decision to withdraw from Eurovision 2022:

Today, on 16 February, the organizing committee of the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 held an extraordinary meeting where the decision to cease the participation of Alina Pash in the national selection was made. This is because of establishing the fact that the artist’s representative falsified a certificate provided to UA: PBC. The artist agreed with this decision of the organizing committee.

According to the rules of the national selection, UA: PBC has the right to terminate the participation of a participant in case of submission of false information.  

We are very sorry that the representative of the artist acted irresponsibly.

UA: PBC is guided by the laws of Ukraine and the national selection rules only.

Under the rules, should UA: PBC cease the participation in the national selection of a participant decided/announced the winner of the selection, UA: PBC has the right to decide on the representative of Ukraine at the Contest from among the other finalists of the national selection.

Source: UA:PBC