Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012

The Belarusian national final Eurofest 2012 consisted of two shows: a semi-final on 21 December 2011 and a final on 14 February 2012. Fifteen songs participated in the competition and the winner was selected through a jury and a public televote. The shows were broadcast on Belarus 1 and Belarus TV.[3] The final was also streamed online via the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.[4]

Artists and composers were able to submit their applications and entries to the broadcaster between 1 November 2011 and 25 November 2011. At the closing of the deadline, 115 applications from artists and 56 entries from composers were received by the broadcaster. A jury panel was tasked with selecting fifteen entries from the received applications to proceed to the televised national final. The jury consisted of Inna Afanasieva, Alexey Khlestov, Alexander Tikhanovich, Anatoly Yarmolenko, Nikolay Skorikov, Yuri Vashchuk, Leonid Shirin, Evgeny Oleinik, Alexander Mezhenny and Dmitry Baranov.[3] The selected finalists were announced on 6 December 2011.[5] Special weekly diaries in the lead up to the national final were broadcast online via the broadcaster's official website and later aired on Belarus 1 and Belarus TV.

The televised semi-final took place on 21 December 2011 at the BTRC studios in Minsk, hosted by Denis Kurian. A 50/50 combination of votes from jury members made up of music professionals and a public telephone vote selected the top five songs to qualify to the final: "And Morning Will Come" performed by Gunesh, "Dream" performed by Victoria Aleshko, "All My Life" performed by Alyona Lanskaya, "The Winner" performed by Uzari and "We Are the Heroes" performed by Litesound.[6]

In addition to the performances from the competitors, the show featured guest performances by 2011 Belarusian Junior Eurovision contestant Lidiya Zablotskaya, Inna Afanasieva, Alexey Khlestov and The Theatre of Modern Choreography D.O.Z.SK.I.[3]

The televised final took place on 14 February 2012 at the Sports Palace in Minsk, hosted by Denis Kurian and Leyla Ismailova. Before the final, Gunesh withdrew her original song "And Morning Will Come" and changed to "Tell Me Why?". A 50/50 combination of votes from jury members made up of music professionals and a public telephone vote selected the song "All My Life" performed by Alyona Lanskaya as the winner. Lanskaya was the winner of the public vote while Litesound was the winner of the jury vote.[7]

In addition to the performances from the competitors, the show featured guest performances by 2012 Swiss Eurovision contestants Sinplus, 1956 Eurovision winner Lys Assia, 2004 Eurovision winner Ruslana, 2007 Eurovision winner Marija Šerifović, 2009 Eurovision winner Alexander Rybak, 2011 Eurovision winners Ell & Nikki, 2004 and 2009 Greek Eurovision contestant Sakis Rouvas and 2007 Belarusian Eurovision contestant Dmitry Koldun.[3]

Following Lanskaya's win at Eurofest 2012, it was rumored that she and her producers had rigged the public vote, which made her the winner. On 24 February 2012, president Alexander Lukashenko ordered an immediate investigation on her "unfair" win, which was later confirmed to be true. As a result of this, Lanskaya was disqualified and replaced by Litesound, who came second, as the new winners of Eurofest 2012 and the new Belarusian entrants at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with the song "We Are the Heroes".[2]

• In the semi-final Belarus came 16th with 35 points: the public awarded Belarus 12th place with 37 points and the jury awarded 11th place with 52 points.[8]