The first heat of the Slovenian Eurovision Song Contest selection EMA 04 (RTVSLO speaks about 04, not 2004) is finished and the first group of three finalists is known. They were determined by televoting.

The male-female duo Platin won the first qualifying round with 6824 votes for their song Stay forever. They were followed by an EMA veteran and former Eurovision Song Contest participant Regina whose song (sung in a dialect) Plave očij received 3315 votes. Third was the newcomer Diona Dim with her rock flavoured If you with 3198 votes.

These three songs have secured themselves a place in the big final, while the rest of the performers (Mojca Brecelj, Aljoša Kovačič, Johnny Bravo, Mikola and Tulio Furlanič) will have to wait until the remaining 3 preselections are finished. After that a jury will give 4 wildcards for the ginal to songs that were not selected by televoting.

All Eurovision Song Contest fans with a decent connection and Real Player can watch the preselections and the final on the internet. RTVSLO offers a live stream of its programme on its website. More information about the performers and the show itself (unfortunately only in Slovene) can also be found exclusively on a special site set up by Slovenia's biggest mobile phone service provider Mobitel, main sponsor of EMA 04. The website Planet can be accessed with mobile phones, supporting GPRS or UMTS.

The second semifinal takes place next Sunday. Stay tuned!