Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012
Romania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Romanian entry was selected through a national final, organised by the Romanian broadcaster Romanian Television. Mandinga represented Romania with the song "Zaleilah", which qualified 3rd from the first semi-final and went on to place 12th in the final, scoring 71 points.
Before Eurovision
In early January 2012, Romania's participation remained unconfirmed. The online portal of one of Romania's newspapers, Cotidianul, assumed that Romania was not going to enter the 2012 edition of the contest due the lack of foundation, but TVR officials did not confirm this claim. It was subsequently announced that Romania would take part in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest. TVR pressured the European Broadcasting Union to lower the entry fee and stated that participation was only possible if 40% of all the costs that may occur could be funded by a sponsor.It was announced that TVR had tried to convince worldwide-topping artist Inna to represent Romania in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest by internal selection, but she refused the offer as she was busy with her I Am the Club Rocker Tour, for promoting her album with the same name.
Selecția Națională 2012
In November 2011, a rumor started on the internet that Romania will withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. None of the TVR officials commented the rumors until mid-January, 2012 when it was officially announced that Romania will compete in that year's edition of the contest. The plan of a national final was partly abolished, as TVR approached Inna to represent Romania in the competition. She eventually refused the participation, claiming full agenda and schedules in the time prior to the final as the only reason for her resignation. As the internal selection didn't go well, on 5 February 2012 it was announced that TVR opened a pre-selection of entries for the fifteenth edition of Selecția Națională.On 6 February 2012, SRTV published a wishlist for composers, encouraging them to compose entries for the following 84 artists.
Notes:
- Candidates in bold confirmed their participation.
- Candidates crossed turned down the offer; Both White and Inna cited upcoming projects as the reason for their absence, promising a return in 2013.
Competing entries
Irish songwriter Karl Broderick submitted his song "Twilight" in the competition to select Romania's Eurovision Song Contest entry after correctly predicting that Jedward would win the Irish selection with their song "Waterline", where Karl was one of the songwriters. After Jedward's entry was chosen to represent Ireland, Broderick told RTÉ about "Twillight": "The song is a nod to the popular films of the same name, about vampires, so I thought it would be interesting to send the song to the home of Transylvania. They came third two years ago."
Final
The final was held on 10 March 2010 at the TVR TV Studios in Bucharest, hosted by Iulia Pârlea and Constantin Trofin. The winner was determined by the 50/50 combination of the votes from a jury panel and public televoting.| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Total | Place |
| 1 | Cătălin Josan | "Call My Name" | 8 | 10 | 18 | 3 |
| 2 | Ana Mardare | "If You Find Simple Words to Say" | 6 | 0 | 6 | 8 |
| 3 | Vicky Red | "If You Ever Feel" | 0 | 4 | 4 | 10 |
| 4 | RPK | "Singura care" | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| 5 | Lucian Oros | "The Best a Man Can Get" | 0 | 5 | 5 | 9 |
| 6 | Raluca Ocneanu | "Time Is On My Side" | 4 | 0 | 4 | 11 |
| 7 | Electric Fence | "Șun-ta" | 12 | 7 | 19 | 2 |
| 8 | Ovidiu Anton | "I Walk Alone" | 7 | 2 | 9 | 5 |
| 9 | Miss Mary | "Rollin" | 2 | 0 | 2 | 14 |
| 10 | Mandinga | "Zaleilah" | 10 | 12 | 22 | 1 |
| 11 | T&L | "Twilight" | 0 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| 12 | Ioana Bianca Anuța | "Girls Don't Cry" | 1 | 8 | 9 | 4 |
| 13 | Tasha | "Say My Name" | 5 | 1 | 6 | 7 |
| 14 | Bianca Purcărea | "Don't Say Sorry" | 0 | 3 | 3 | 12 |
| 15 | Ana Mardare | "This Must Be Love" | 3 | 0 | 3 | 13 |
At Eurovision
During the Semi-Final Allocation draw which was held on 25 January 2012, it was announced Romania were scheduled to compete in the first half of the first semi-final on 22 May. On 20 March 2012 the Running Order draw was held, which determined the order of which the participants performed. Romania performed 6th overall in the first semi-final and at the close of the voting, qualified to the final. "Mandinga" achieved 3rd place with 120 points. In the final on May 26, Romania performed 14th. Romania ended up on 12th position scoring at the end of voting, with 71 points. Macedonia had also scored 71 points and came 13th in the grand final, because of Romania's high televoting percent.Split results
- In the Semi-final 1 Romania came 3rd with 120 points: the public awarded Romania 2nd place with 132 points and the jury awarded 5th place with 87 points.
- In the Final Romania came 12th with 71 points: the public awarded Romania 7th place with 117 points and the jury awarded 20th place with 53 points.
Points awarded to Romania[Eurovision Song Contest 2012]
| 12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |
| 12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |