With 232 points Lena Philipsson and Det gör ont (It hurts) have supremely won tonight's Swedish final. Lena will thus be representing Sweden at the Eurovision in May.
The voting turned into a minor battle already during collection of the eleven juries' votes. For a while it seemed like Tango! Tango! with Petra Nielsen was going to run away with the crown, but before anyone knew it she had slid to a 3rd position, only to end 4th when the entire voting procedure was over.
Each of the eleven jury groups gave 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 to their top seven songs, and to keep the ratio between jury votes and televotes, the latter had been multiplied by 11. The full results were as follows (numbers in brackets are points):
2nd: Min kärlek (My love) – Shirley Clamp (174)
3rd: La dolce vita – After Dark (156)
4th: Tango! Tango! – Petra Nielsen (151)
5th: Paradise – E-Type (75)
6th: Vindarna vänder oss (The winds turn us around) – Fame (66)
7th: Som stormen (Like the storm) – Sara Löfgren (52)
8th: Här stannar jag kvar (Here I'll stay) – Sandra Dahlberg (19)
9th: Olé, olé! – Andrés Esteche (14)
10th: C'est la vie – Hanson, Carson & Malmkwist (7)
Who was supposed to have been somewhat of a “joker” in tonight's final instead made it to the to the very top and to the Eurovision — eighteen years after her first appearance in the Swedish final. The man behind the winning entry, Thomas Orup Eriksson, is not entirely unfamiliar to the Swedish Melodifestivalen either; his first entry to the final was in 1989, and which he co-wrote with Anders Glenmark. Glenmark himself has appeared in the Swedish final five times, and both gentlemen are two thirds of the popular Swedish constellation G.E.S. (Glenmark, Eriksson and Strömstedt — and incidentally, the very same Niklas Strömstedt penned Sweden's 1992 entry).
Having finished in the Top 5 at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest, Sweden is directly qualified for the Eurovision final on 15th May in Istanbul and will thus not have to enter the qualification round on 12th May.
On a closing note, tonight's Swedish final was also broadcast via the Eurovision network to Latvia and Norway.
