The Cypriot national selection is close to becoming a farce. After the announcement of the 20 songs competing in the semifinals, it appeared that quite a few of the participants have broken CyBC's contest rules. In 2005, Cyprus already had to withdraw its Junior Eurovision Song Contest participant due to irregularities.
Following the announcement of the 20 songs participating in the semifinals, it appeared several of the selected songs broke CyBC's rules. Disqualification should follow, since “songs shall not have been heard in public in any way or form until the day of the selection of the song by the CyBC” – a rule which was broken by several of the selected entries…
Andermay: exit!
According to Belgovision.com, the Spanish duo Andermay has already been disqualified because it broke another rule: “all those who will participate in the contest should submit a solemn declaration to the effect that they are not participating in a similar contest announced by other radio and television stations of other countries”. It seems Andermay could not apply to that rule… Andermay submitted the song Come back my heart in Belgium first and decided to submit the song in Cyprus after they were informed that they would not be participating in the finals of Eurosong 2006 in Belgium.
Patric Babak in trouble
Patric Babak's song, Forever and for good is available on his website, which violates the Cyprus rule saying that the songs should remain strictly confidential until the selection show. It seems Babak faces disqualification by CyBC as well.
Several reports indicate that both C'est la vie and It's over are available on the internet for download. The two songs, performed as demo by Sara May and Timo Tulone, were apparently submitted and rejected in Poland, but are now listed among the Cypriot entries. As rules stated that participation in another countries is not allowed, which is another potential reason for disqualification.
Styg Nygard, who contributed a song to the Cypriot selection, also submitted one or more songs to the Lithuanian selection.
Who's to blame?
Singers, songwriters, composers and others in the Eurovision Song Contest scene are already speculating about who's to blame for this highly embarrassing situation. Although many composers and songwriters failed to apply to the rules of CyBC, the large number of problems suggests these rules were not clearly understood by many.
It's unknown why CyBC didn't check the validity of each selected entry before announcing them publicly – something they will do this weekend according to Oikotimes.com. But some will most likely consider that as too late…
To be continued for sure…
