The first semi-final of the Eurovision festival takes place this Tuesday, in which iolanda will compete, with ‘Grito’.
The Portuguese representative will be the penultimate to take the stage, acting between Australia and Luxembourg. Cyprus, Serbia, Lithuania, Republic of Ireland, Ukraine, Poland, Croatia, Iceland, Slovenia, Finland, Moldova and Azerbaijan are the other countries that will try, today, to reach the grand final that will take place next Saturday.
Competitors from the United Kingdom, Germany and Sweden, the host country, already have a place in the final secured, and will also perform their songs today. Ten finalists will emerge from this semi-final, who will be selected through the votes of the general public and the jury. The countries competing in the first semi-final, as well as the United Kingdom, Germany and Sweden, will elect these same finalists, adding to their individual votes those of the other competitors, aggregated in the “rest of the world” category.
O jury show, where the contestants are evaluated by the judges (whose voting weight amounts to 49.4%, adding to this percentage the televote), took place this Monday. Iolanda left good recommendations, with a audience poll (subsequent public survey) placing her in 8th place, with 3.33% of the votes, thus leaving her in a position to qualify. In 1st place was Croatia, with 37% of the votes.
Bookmakers already reflect these indicators, with the “Eurovision World” website, which aggregates the odds from several bookmakers, placing iolanda in 7th place, with an 81% chance of qualifying. Croatia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Republic of Ireland, Finland, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Poland and Serbia could be the others.
However, iolanda still has a mountain to climb when it comes to winning Eurovision: the Portuguese artist occupies 33rd place according to bookmakers, with less than 1% chance of winning the contest.
The first semi-final of the Eurovision festival will be broadcast live on RTP, starting at 8pm in mainland Portugal.
