Belarus: National selection takes a dramatic turn as 6 finalists threaten to withdraw.
Things a turning a little bit dramatic in Belarus’ national selection, as six out of the eleven national final contestants threaten to withdraw, if Alekseev is allowed to compete in the national final , despite having clearly broken EBU rules and conditions.
It all started when the Russian speaking local community of Eurovision Fans , VK ESCWORLDCLUB published some videos showing Alekseev performing in Russian during concerts in Kiev, his song Forever, the entry which he is competing with in the National selection.
This fact contrasts EBU’s regulations forbidding any public or commercial release of the songs , that will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest, before the 1st of September.
The song that Alekseev performed had the title Navsgeda and was a little bit longer than the song Forever. The young artist’s manager admitted that he had sung this song in these concerts, but he claimed that it was not proven that accusations concern the same song, since the lyrics and the melody differ.
After rumors that the national broadcaster asked from Alekseev to replace the song in case he won the national final on February 16, six of the finalists signed a common letter demanding the singer’s disqualification. In case their request is rejected , then Alen Hit, Anastasiya Malashkevich, Sofya Lapina, Kirill Good, Gunesh and NAPOLI, threaten to withdraw from the national selection considering that the outcome has already been determined. They wonder in their letter how did Alekseev sign a binding private declaration that he complies with the EBU regulations, when he sang his song before EBU’s permitted date and while the duration of the song passed the 3 minute limit of duration required (3,06), as it was performed during the lice auditions.
The six contestants conclude in the decision to withdraw from the final, although they have spent time and money to prepare their entries, but they still prefer that then participating in an already determined selection and the only way for the national broadcaster to prove opposit , is to exclude Alekseev.
