Serbia and Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006

Eurovision Song Contest 2006
Participating broadcaster	Udruženje javnih radija i televizija (UJRT)
Country	Serbia and Montenegro
National selection
Selection process	Evropesma-Europjesma 2006
Selection date(s)	11 March 2006
Finals performance
Final result	Withdrawn
Serbia and Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2005 • 2006

Serbia and Montenegro was to be represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. The Serbian-Montenegrin participant broadcaster, Udruženje javnih radija i televizija (UJRT), organised the national final Evropesma-Europjesma 2006 in order to select its entry for the contest. Serbian Radio-televizija Srbije (RTS) and Montenegrin Radio-televizija Crne Gore (RTCG) each submitted twelve entries from their respective selections Beovizija 2006 and Montevizija 2006 with twenty-four entries in total competing in the national final on 11 March 2006. The song "Moja ljubavi" (Моја љубави), written by Milan Perić and Dalibor Nedović, and performed by the band No Name (which had represented Serbia and Montenegro in 2005), won the national final following the combination of votes from an eight-member jury panel and a public televote. However the results were not recognized by UJRT due to controversy surrounding tactical voting of the Montenegrin jury, and the broadcaster ended up not submitting any entry.

As one of ten highest placed finishers in the 2005 contest Serbia and Montenegro directly qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 20 May 2006. However, Serbia and Montenegro was removed from the contest on 20 March due to UJRT not being able to submit an entry by the submission deadline with the empty slot in the final being replaced by Croatia.

Prior to the 2006 Contest, Udruženje javnih radija i televizija (UJRT) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Serbia and Montenegro as an independent country two times since its first entry in 2004 when it achieved its best placing with the song "Lane moje" performed by Željko Joksimović, placing second in the final.^[1] In 2005, "Zauvijek moja" performed by No Name, placed seventh in the final.^[1] Up to this point, Serbia and Montenegro had featured in every final of the Eurovision Song Contest they participated in.

As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, UJRT organised the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest while Serbian Radio-televizija Srbije (RTS) and Montenegrin Radio-televizija Crne Gore (RTCG) broadcast the event within their respective republics. UJRT confirmed its intentions to participate at the 2006 contest on 23 November 2005. In 2004 and 2005, the Evropesma-Europjesma national final had been used in order to select its entry, a procedure that continued for the selection of the 2006 entry as announced along with its participation confirmation.^[2]

RTCG organised Montevizija 2006, the second edition of Montevizija, in order to select its entries for the national final. The broadcaster held the competition on 24 February 2006 at its studios in Podgorica, hosted by Zoja-Spahić Kustudić, Andrija Milošević, Danilo Čelebić, Irena Ivanović, and Milena Ristić. Twenty songs competed and nine juries – 8 jury members and a public televote determined the twelve songs to progress to the final of Evropesma-Europjesma 2006.

RTS organised Beovizija 2006, the 4th edition of Beovizija, in order to select its entries for the national final. The broadcaster held the competition on 10 March 2006 in Sava Centar in Belgrade. 23 songs competed in Beovizija 2006, one song, "Blizina", due to be performed by Zvezde Granda and Šaban Bajramović was withdrawn due to Bajramović's poor health condition.^[3][4] Nine juries – 8 jury members and a public televote determined the twelve songs to progress to the final of Evropesma-Europjesma 2006.

UJRT organised Evropesma-Europjesma 2006 in order to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. The competition took place at the Sava Centar in Belgrade on 11 March 2006, hosted by Jelena Jovičić and Boda Ninković. The show was broadcast in Serbia on RTS1 and RTS Sat as well as streamed online via the broadcaster's website rts.co.yu, and in Montenegro on TVCG 1 and TVCG Sat.^[5][6]

Both UJRT broadcasters, Serbian RTS and Montenegrin RTCG, each conducted separate selections in order to select the twenty-four entries to proceed to the national final: RTS organised Beovizija 2006 on 10 March 2006 where twenty-three songs competed, while RTCG organised Montevizija 2006 on 24 February 2006 with twenty entries competing. From each selection, the top twelve entries qualified for the national final and among the competing artists was No Name which represented Serbia and Montenegro in 2005.

The final took place on 11 March 2006 where twenty-four songs competed. The winner, "Moja ljubavi" performed by No Name, was decided by a combination of votes from a jury panel and the Serbian and Montenegrin public via televoting. The Serbian jury consisted of Milan Đurđević (musician), Zoran Dašić (RTS music editor and composer), Jovan Maljoković (composer and jazz musician) and Tanja Banjanin (singer), while the Montenegrin jury consisted of Predrag Kalezić (producer), Milica Belević (editor and music critic), Bojan Bajramović (President of the Association of Pop Artists and Performers of Montenegro), Predrag Janković (professor at the University of Montenegro Music Academy), and televoters as the ninth jury member. Eurovision contestants Hari Mata Hari, Severina, Brian Kennedy, Elena Risteska, and Anžej Dežan, which would represent Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Ireland, Macedonia, and Slovenia in the 2006 contest, respectively, were featured as guest performers during the show.

Evropesma-Europjesma 2006 saw the same voting pattern from the jurors from both republics. Despite the public vote winners, Serbian Beovizija 2006 winner Flamingosi featuring Louis receiving over 7,000 votes more than the runner-up, Beovizija 2006 runner-up Ana Nikolić, both of them did not receive any points from the Montenegrin jurors whereas No Name, which placed third in the public vote, were awarded eight points by the Serbian jurors (which awarded the Montenegrin acts about 1/4 of their votes) making it enough for them to score another win as all four Montenegrin jurors (which awarded the Serbian acts about 1/10 of their votes) awarded them maximum points.^[7] Realizing that the favourites were not going to win, the audience started leaving the event with the remaining audience booing No Name off the stage and throwing objects (such as bottles) at the stage during the reprise. The audience then wooed Flamingosi and Louis on stage as they performed their song with the other Serbian acts present on stage.^[8]

Shortly after the competition, RTS held a press conference where it was announced that the two Serbian jurors that awarded No Name points, Milan Đurđević and Zoran Dašić, had withdrawn their votes in dispute of the tactical voting of the Montenegrin jury.^[9] The Executive Board of UJRT later issued a statement stating that they did not accept the victory of No Name as the voting violated the merits of the competition, albeit not being found irregular. Following failed negotiations of a new national final featuring the top five entries of Beovizija 2006 and Montevizija 2006 with the winner selected entirely by public televoting, both RTS and RTCG requested from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to intervene in accepting or annulling the competition results, however the EBU responded on 18 March by suggesting that the broadcasters find a solution on their own.^[10]

On 20 March, the deadline for entry submissions to the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, the EBU announced that Serbia and Montenegro would be removed from the contest due to UJRT failing to submit an entry in time. However, RTS, the Serbian member of UJRT, would still broadcast the semi-final and final, and only viewers in Serbia would be able to vote.^[11][12]

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country, the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom) and the ten highest placed finishers in the 2005 contest are required to qualify from the semi-final in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from the semi-final progress to the final. As Serbia and Montenegro finished seventh in the 2005 contest, the nation automatically qualified to compete in the final on 20 May 2006. However, following its withdrawal from the contest on 20 March an empty slot for automatic qualification was left in the final, which was given to Croatia as they finished eleventh in 2005.

The semi-final and the final were broadcast in Serbia on RTS1 and RTS Sat with commentary by Duška Vučinić-Lučić, and in Montenegro on TVCG 2 and TVCG Sat with commentary by Dražen Bauković and Tamara Ivanković. UJRT appointed Jovana Janković as its spokesperson to announce the Serbian-Montenegrin votes during the final. During the presentation of the points, Janković pointed Serbia to return to the contest the following year with the best possible song and thus win the contest; Serbia debuted in 2007 as an independent country, winning the contest with its entry "Molitva" performed by Marija Šerifović. Janković also hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade alongside Željko Joksimović.^[13]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded by Serbia and Montenegro in the semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the semi-final and the final of the contest.

Points awarded by Serbia and Montenegro (Semi-final)[14] Score Country 12 points  Bosnia and Herzegovina 10 points  Macedonia 8 points  Finland 7 points  Slovenia 6 points  Russia 5 points  Ukraine 4 points  Sweden 3 points  Lithuania 2 points  Iceland 1 point  Ireland

Points awarded by Serbia and Montenegro (Final)[15] Score Country 12 points  Bosnia and Herzegovina 10 points  Croatia 8 points  Macedonia 7 points  Finland 6 points  Greece 5 points  Russia 4 points  Romania 3 points  Lithuania 2 points  Ukraine 1 point  Sweden

On 21 May 2006, one day after the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, an independence referendum was held in Montenegro, where the majority of its population voted for independence. Montenegro formally declared its independence on 3 June 2006, and two days later, the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro officially ceased to exist. Both countries participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 separately as independent nations, with Serbia winning the contest and Montenegro failing to qualify to the final until 2014.