Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Moldovan entry was selected through a national final, organised by the Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova. Pasha Parfeny represented Moldova with the song "Lăutar", which qualified from the first semi-final and went on to place 11th in the final, scoring 81 points.
The selection of the competing entries for the national final and ultimately the Moldovan Eurovision entry took place in three rounds. The first round occurred on 26 February 2011 and involved a jury panel shortlisting sixty entries from the received submissions based on criteria such as the quality of the melody and composition, vocals and manner of the performance and the originality of the song. The second round was a live audition of the sixty selected artists and their entries in front of a jury panel that took place on 25 and 29 January 2012. The panel selected twenty finalists to proceed to the third round, the televised national final. An additional finalist was selected from the remaining entries which failed to be among the finalists by an online vote which ran between 1 February and 12 February 2012. Twenty-one finalists competed in the final on 11 March 2012 where the winner was selected by the 50/50 combination of an expert jury vote and a public televote. In the event of a tie, the entry that received the highest score from the jury vote would be declared the winner.
Competing entries
Artists and composers had the opportunity to submit their entries until 16 January 2012. Artists were required to have Moldovan citizenship, however international artists were able to compete only if they were part of a duo or group where there were no more than two foreigners. Songwriters could hold any nationality. At the conclusion of the submission deadline, 85 valid entries were received by the broadcaster, and were published online between 14 January and 18 January 2012. Submissions included those from 2008 entrantGeta Burlacu, 2009 entrantNelly Ciobanu and 2010 entrantsOlia Tira and SunStroke Project. A jury selected 60 out of the 85 received entries to proceed to the audition round. The live audition round took place on 29 January 2012 where 20 finalists were selected to advance. The jury panel that evaluated the songs during the live auditions and selected the 20 finalists consisted of Olga Ciolacu, Igor Dinga, Vali Boghean, Tatiana Cerga, Andrei Sava, Victoria Tcacenco and Dana Argint. An additional wildcard finalist was selected from the 33 entries which failed to be among the 20 semi-finalists by an online vote which ran between 1 February and 12 February 2012. On 20 February 2012, "Live On Forever" performed by Mariana Mihăilă was selected as the wildcard finalist. The allocation and running order draw for the final took place on 5 March 2012. On 20 February 2012, "Turn On The Light" performed by Nelly Ciobanu was withdrawn from the competition due to personal reasons and replaced with the runner-up in the online wildcard vote, "Live the Show" performed by Akord.
Final
The final took place on 11 March 2012 at TRM studios in Chișinău, hosted by Marcel Spataru, Evelina Vârlan and Dorina Gherganov. The winner was selected based on the combination of a public televote and the votes of an expert jury. "Lăutar" performed by Pasha Parfeny was selected as the winner. The jury included Olga Ciolacu, Igor Dinga, Vali Boghean, Tatiana Cerga, Andrei Sava, Victoria Tcacenco, Angela Braşoveanu, Nicu Țărnă, Anatol Chiriac, Igor Cobileanski and Ludmila Climoc.
At Eurovision
Moldova competed in the second half of the first semi-final, on 22 May 2012, following Austria and preceding Ireland. Moldova received 100 points and placed 5th, thus qualifying for the final on 26 May. In the final, Moldova was drawn to close the final and perform 26th, following Ukraine. The Moldovan entry scored a total of 81 points and placed 11th in the final.
Split results
In the Semi-final Moldova came 5th with 100 points: the public awarded Moldova 7th place with 85 points and the jury awarded 2nd place with 107 points.
In the Final Moldova came 11th with 81 points: the public awarded Moldova 13th place with 75 points and the jury awarded 9th place with 104 points.
