Voting procedures for this year’s Malta Song Festival will change, the Malta Song Board said during a press conference held to announce this year’s hosts and to draw by lots the festival’s singing order.

Chairman Robert Abela stated that this year’s voting time will be extended to 30 minutes after last year’s 10 minutes proved to be too short for the enormous traffic via the local telephony companies. Mr Abela announced also that voters will be entitled only to vote once via land line, SMSs or mobile phones.

Mr Abela confirmed the 100 per cent televoting procedure and said that the seven-strong international jury will not sit in the auditorium but will follow the festival on TV so that they would not be influenced by the spectators’ cheers. He appealed to the public to vote with an eye on quality, “as we will export this song to Europe”.

The 228 songs which have been submitted for the festival have been trimmed down to 35 after the first selection phase and 14 made it after the second phase. Two other songs will make it to the finals after they are selected through the TV programme Showtime.

The 16 songs will be performed during the semi-final which will be held on Thursday 1 February, out of which six will make it to the final, which will be held on Saturday 3 February. Both nights will be held at the Malta Fairs and Conventions Centre at Ta’ Qali.

The YADA dance company will provide the opening act of the festival during the semi-final and will also perform an 80s and 90s music dance medley during the interval. On the final night, last year’s winner Fabrizio Faniello will open the night while former Eurovision Song Festival winner Ruslana will give a show during the interval.

Tickets will be available for sale as from Monday.