Portugal | Cláudia Pascoal will sing on home soil!
Portugal have chosen their entry for Eurovision 2018 and it's Cláudia Pascoal with the song "O Jardim." Cláudia will be singing on home soil in Lisbon after Salvador Sobral brought Portugal their first Eurovision win in Kiev 2017.
A total of 14 acts took part in the Festival da Canção final. The winner was decided by a mix of tele vote and jury vote. After the jury vote, Catarina Miranda was in the lead with 71 points, while Cláudia Pascoal was in a very close second place with 63 points. Completing the top 3 of the jury vote was Peu Madureira with 54 points.
The jury points were then converted into Eurovision-style votes. The results were as follows:
Catarina Miranda - 12 points
Cláudia Pascoal - 10 points
Peu Madureira - 8 points
Joana Barra Vaz - 7 points
Janeiro - 6 points
Joana Espadinha - 5 points
Rui David - 4 points
Susana Travassos - 4 points
Maria Inés Paris - 2 points
Lili - 1 point
Due to a tie break between Rui and Susana (they both received 19 points from the juries), they were both awarded 4 points, with no-one receiving 3 points. After the jury had voted, the results of the tele vote were announced:
Cláudia Pascoal - 12 points
Catarina Miranda - 10 points
Peu Madureira - 8 points
Anabela - 7 points
Janeiro - 6 points
Lili - 5 points
Rui David - 4 points
Peter Serrado - 3 points
Minnie & Rhayra - 2 points
Maria Inés Paris - 1 point
After the jury vote and tele vote had been announced, Cláudia and Catarina, both with 22 points, tied for first place. However, it was Cláudia that was announced as the winner as she had won the tele vote. The final results of Fesitval da Canção were as follows:
Cláudia Pascoal – “O Jardim” - 22 points
Catarina Miranda – “Para sorrir eu não preciso de nada” - 22 points
Peu Madureira – “Só per ela” - 16 points
Janeiro – “(sem titulo)” - 12 points
Rui David – “Sem medo” - 8 points
Anabela – “Pra te dar abrigo” - 7 points
Joana Barra Vaz – “Anda estragar-me os planos” - 7 points
Lili – “O voo das cegonhas” - 6 points
Joana Espadinha – “Zero a zero” - 5 points
Susana Travassos – “Messageira” - 4 points
Peter Serrado – “Sunset” - 3 points
Maria Inés Paris – “Bandeira Azul” - 3 points
Minnie & Rhayra – “Patati Patata” - 2 points
David Pessoa – “Amor veloz” - 0 points
Once again, Portugal used Festival da Canção to select their entry for Eurovision, but this year, it wasn't without it's problems. After the first semi final, the Portuguese broadcaster RTP announced that a mistake had been made when delivering the tele votes, which meant that Beatriz Pessoa had unfortunately not made it to the final, with Rui David taking her place.
One week on from the first semi final, allegations of plagiarism came to light with regards to Diogo Piçarra's song. As a result, Diogo decided to withdraw from the competition.
Check out the winning song below and don't forget to let us know what you think!
