Tonight, 9 songs and 9 artists performed in a fiercely competitive Izmepisma to determine who will become the Izmeduan representative for the 76th WorldVision Song Contest. For this edition, ten international juries voted in the national final, constituting the largest amount of international jury votes since Izmepisma's WV68 edition. Now, the votes have been tallied and we are proud to announce that the winner is...
Lea Sabolic - Breaking Free
Setting a record within the national final itself, Lea Sabolic won with a stunning 184 points (68 jury + 116 televote) and won with both constituencies. In what was an intensely competitive jury vote, Lea's "Breaking Free" maintained a consistent performance with a majority of the juries, securing points from all but 1 juror. Her lead in the jury vote was aided with six jurors putting her song in their top 3, with one set of 12, four sets of 10, and one set of 8. The televote itself was hotly contested, being a two-way deadlock between the two pre-contest favorites (Lea and Poslie Postojanje). In the end, Lea squeaked out the televote win, having received approximately 255,000 votes (amounting to 27% of the total Izmeduan televote) and with a 3,000 vote lead over the runners-up. Following the win, Lea immediately accepted the invitation to perform in WorldVision, and will enter intensive rehearsals for the upcoming contest.
Poslie Postojanje, the runners-up, have declared an interest in the World Hit Festival. The secrecy surrounding the WHF team's plans have made it difficult to ascertain which edition is certain. However, the band released a joint statement declaring a steadfast interest and provisional intention in representing Izmedu in the 50th World Hit Festival.
We thank each and every international jury that voted in Izmepisma. This would not have been possible without your participation.