RTSH introduces televoting for the 61st edition of Festivali i Këngës
The biggest Albanian music competition Festivali i Këngës, has served as the selection method for the Albanian Eurovision entry since their debut in 2004 and will face a significant change for the 61st edition! For the first time, there will be a televoting to decide the outcome of the competition! In 2016, RTSH introduced an online vote to let the public decide, which only counted as 1/13 of the outcome and was not brought back since then.
For the first time since 2016, the public will therefore have a say in the outcome but the exact percentage that the televotes will hold for the final score is yet to be revealed. Most editions of FiK have solely been decided by juries and usually the full scores are never revealed to the public, which makes this news quite extraordinary!
OGAE Albania announced the news on their official Instagram account with big excitement today!
This year Festivali i Këngës comes with the innovation, that was so much requested by you: Televoting. In this edition, the public will have its voice. FiK is currently in the phase of accepting competitive songs, until September 30.
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Submissions for the 61st edition of the Albanian song contest opened as early as June 2022 and will close on September 30th. The official dates for the shows are still unknown but are expected to take place in December 2022.
Last year’s edition of Festivali i Këngës was won by Ronela Hajati with the song “Sekret“, who represented Albania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin. Despite being a fan favorite, Ronela was unable to finish higher than 12th in the semi-final and therefore did not advance to the grand final! However, the music video for “Sekret” is still the fifth most watched music video of this year’s competition!
Do you think the introduction of a televote is a smart choice for Festivali i Këngës? Who would you like to see represent Albania at the Eurovision Song Contest next year? Let us know your thoughts in the comments and on our social media platforms! @escbubble
