Preparations are in full swing at the Mediterranean Conference Centre for tomorrow evening’s Maltasong Festival.

The winner of the festival will represent Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest that will be held in Greece in May.

In last year’s event, local favourite Chiara came second. This is the best ever position obtained by Malta – Ira Losca also came

second in 2002.

Tourism and Culture Minister Francis Zammit Dimech visited the MCC yesterday as the final touches were being made to the stage and equipment that will be used on the night.

The minister commented on the high standard of the event and said he was sure that this year’s festival would be another success.

“The festival is an expression of local talent and provides an ideal opportunity for the country to sell its tourism product, especially when the country’s winner takes part in the Eurovision Song Contest”, he said.

This year’s list of participants includes both established singers and newcomers to the festival. J. Anvil, Fabrizio Faniello, Olivia Lewis and Nadine Axisa need no introduction, while Claudia Faniello, Lara and Trilogy will be taking part for the first time.

Tomorrow’s show, which starts at 8.30pm, will be presented by three well-known TV personalities: Eileen Montesin, Josef Bonello and journalist Lou Bondi.

The Go Mobile Malta Song for Europe 2006 Festival will be shown live on TVM.

The winning song will be chosen by the public who will be casting their votes by phone or SMS.

To avoid delays or technical hitches, the 10-minute period for voting will start immediately after the 18 songs have been performed on the final night. The results will be announced on the same evening.

The SMS number and the respective songs are shown in the table above.