In the final moment and by surprise, RTVE decided to leave the tiebreaker in the hands of the jury. That unexpected decision, to choose Manel Navarro, caused the riot of the public on the set.
A little edifying show, and more for an important date. The discreet role that Spain has had in the last Eurovision festivals is having as a consequence less and less interest on the part of the public.
What was seen on Saturday night on Spanish Television does not help anything. The gala ended with a cut of sleeves by the chosen one, the shout of "tongo" by the public and also an alleged aggression.
Manel Navarro's victory
The theme of Manel Navarro, composed by himself, 'Do it for your lover', was chosen to represent Spain in the next Eurovision Song Contest. The song was chosen by the show's jury, and won five other participants.
This final election did not please many people, and it led to clashes throughout the program.
The tension at the gala
The truth is that the gala was not quiet at any time. From the beginning there was tension. You could tell that the public was not willing to let themselves handle, And that is what happened.
Once the score among the five participants was known, there was a tie at 58 points, between Manel Navarro and Mirela. It was necessary to tie the tie somehow, and everyone hoped that the criteria of previous years editions would be maintained. That is to say, that the tiebreaker was in the hands of the public.
To everyone's surprise, RTVE changed the procedure for this year and decided that if there was a tie it would be the professional jury, made up of Javier Cardenas, Virginia Díaz y Xavi Martínez, who would decide.
The problem was that no one reported that modification in advance. The public and viewers were informed when the tie between the two artists was already known.
It was at that moment when Jaime Cantizano, who was the host of the program, announced this change. Then, the attending public exploded in shouts, whistles, and accusations of "tongo".
In this way, the singer Mirela Was in second place, while in third position it was LeKlein, with the electronic notes of 'Ouch!'.
In the fourth position was Maika with her "Critical Moment". Instead Mario Jefferson with 'Spin my head', and the country Pop song 'Lo que never was', performed by Paula Rojo it would close the classification.
The moment after the election
Once the name of the winner, Manel Navarro, was known, the contestants hugged and congratulated the winner. Nevertheless, the audience did not applaud. The assistants froze and only boos broke the moment. "Tongo, tongo, tongo ..." they began to shout between insults and beeps.
Manel's reaction
Among such expressions of anger from the public, Jaime Cantizano tried to make calls to calm down, and put order. But it was too late.
Such was the tension that there was, that Manel Navarro's face was expressive of the rejection he felt from the public. How did you react? Instead of keeping calm he replied with a cut of hands that ruffled even more the spirits of the stands.
This gesture, discreet but visible, has caused all kinds of comments on social networks. After the program, on Twitter, Manel he just thanked his #lovers and post a thank you video.
In subsequent statements to the media, Manel acknowledged that it was a bit unpleasant moment.
It was clear that Mirela was everyone's favorite artist. But the bad vibes continued. When Manel returned to center stage to reinterpret "it for your lover" to end the gala, the organization did not give him his instrument. Again more minutes of tension were generated. In them, Manel argued heatedly with part of the public.
Was there aggression against Xavi Martínez?
Different digital media have echoed the news of a alleged assault on Xavi Martínez, announcer of the 40 Principales, and which part of the public accused of orchestrating the tongo that prevented the victory of Mirela, the public's favorite. Xavi gave the lowest score of all to Manel Navarro, in the final assessment. What could be decisive for the victory of the chosen singer.
Presenter Xavi Martinez during the photocall of the 40 Principales Music Awards in Madrid, on Friday, 11th December 2015
Xavi assures that, after receiving threats during the voting and at the end, he felt a blow to the face when he left the set. He further states that the lack of security on the set prevented the violence from escalating, and he left the venue with a puffy face.
For his part, the alleged aggressor, David Ascanio, wanted to make it clear that "Xavi Martínez is trying to divert the focus of attention from something fatter. It seems to me that it is not fair. I am totally against the use of violence in any of the cases. Without excuses".
Eurovision 2017
The 62nd edition of Eurovision will take place at the International Exhibition Center in Kiev on May 13, after two previous semifinals that will be held on the 9th and 11th of that month. The festival travels to Ukraine for the second time.
Remember that a few months ago the news came out that the next edition of the Eurovision Song Contest was on the air. The director of the Ukrainian national television (NTU), Zurab Alasania, resigned because he claimed that there was insufficient state funding for the organization.
For its part, the Festival's supervisory body, the European Broadcasting Union (UER), the festival's supervisory body, has stated know the financial and budgetary problems, but wait for them to be resolved.
Those responsible for the organization have stated that There are 43 countries that will compete in Eurovision 2017, which is the highest historical record of festival participants. These participation figures were not known since 2008 and 2001.
Beside Portugal, which did not participate for budgetary reasons in the edition of the Festival of 2016, there will also be Romania. The latter country was expelled from the festival in 2016 due to the high debt of its public television.
Image sources: el Periódico, RTVE.es, the Huffington Post.