After Dan Bittman withdrew from Selectia Nationala 2019 in the last days of 2018 due to other commitments outside of Romania and an introduction of two wildcards (Bella Santiago and Linda Teodosiu), there’s another change in the line-up of the Romanian selection. Mihai Traistariu, who already represented Romania in Eurovision in 2006 and was set to compete with the song “Baya” has now withdrawn.

Mihai claims that he doesn’t trust the objectivity of the competition, as well as the unclear rules and favoritism towards some artists, and thus withdrew from the competition. He stated the following on his Facebook page:

From #esc to #exit …

Following a full evaluation of the Eurovision Romania 2019 Contest, organized by TVR, I decided to withdraw from the competition.

Eurovision is the contest that gave me the aura of artist in 2006, when I won for Romania with the highest score in history and a huge success with Tornero in more than 35 countries. This motivated me during my artist career and showed me that the dream can be fulfilled if you are willing to work for it.

I joined this year in the preselections with the song “Baya” and managed to make it to the Semi-finals. We chose an upbeat track for this year after 5 months of filming a successful TV show for another TV station where I was a competitor and in which I played live… 16 famous artists with different voice stamps, different attitudes and personalities, so my voice was filled with success and the show!

I am a competitive artist and I have demonstrated this by facts. But at this moment, I do not trust the objectivity of the Romania Eurovision organisers, given the unclear situation, from the start, regarding the competitors – those who passed the preselections and those who were later favoured – I decided to withdraw. I can’t continue on a road that has many mysteries.

Thanks to the fans who have always supported me and who are with me and my music and i can promise them, that for me, Eurovision remains a story … without an ending!

This leaves 24 acts in the competition who will now be split in even semi finals of 12. The two semi finals are going to take place in Iasi on the 27th of January and in Arad on the 10th of February, whilst the Grand Final of Selectia Nationala will take place in Bucharest on the 17th of February.