Background
Prior to the 2006 Contest, (UJRT) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Serbia and Montenegro as an independent country two times since its first entry in when it achieved its best placing with the song "" performed by Željko Joksimović, placing second in the final. In , "" performed by No Name, placed seventh in the final. Up to this point, Serbia and Montenegro had featured in every final of the Eurovision Song Contest they participated in. As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, UJRT organised the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest while Serbian (RTS) and Montenegrin (RTCG) broadcast the event within their respective republics. UJRT confirmed its intentions to participate at the 2006 contest on 23 November 2005. In 2004 and 2005, the '' Evropesma-Europjesma'' national final had been used in order to select its entry, a procedure that continued for the selection of the 2006 entry as announced along with its participation confirmation.Before Eurovision
''Montevizija 2006''
RTCG organised ''Montevizija 2006'', the second edition of ''Montevizija'', in order to select its entries for the national final. The broadcaster held the competition on 24 February 2006 at its studios in''Beovizija 2006''
RTS organised ''Beovizija 2006'', the 4th edition of '' Beovizija'', in order to select its entries for the national final. The broadcaster held the competition on 10 March 2006 in Sava Centar in''Evropesma-Europjesma 2006''
UJRT organised ''Evropesma-Europjesma 2006'' in order to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. The competition took place at the Sava Centar inCompeting entries
Both UJRT broadcasters, Serbian RTS and Montenegrin RTCG, each conducted separate selections in order to select the twenty-four entries to proceed to the national final: RTS organised ''Beovizija 2006'' on 10 March 2006 where twenty-three songs competed, while RTCG organised ''Montevizija 2006'' on 24 February 2006 with twenty entries competing. From each selection, the top twelve entries qualified for the national final and among the competing artists was No Name which represented .Final
The final took place on 11 March 2006 where twenty-four songs competed. The winner, "" performed by No Name, was decided by a combination of votes from a jury panel and the Serbian and Montenegrin public via televoting. The Serbian jury consisted of Milan Đurđević (musician), Zoran Dašić (RTS music editor and composer), Jovan Maljoković (composer and jazz musician) and Tanja Banjanin (singer), while the Montenegrin jury consisted of Predrag Kalezić (producer), Milica Belević (editor and music critic), Bojan Bajramović (President of the Association of Pop Artists and Performers of Montenegro), Predrag Janković (professor at the University of Montenegro Music Academy), and televoters as the ninth jury member. Eurovision contestants Hari Mata Hari, Severina, Brian Kennedy, Elena Risteska, and Anžej Dežan, which would represent , , , , and in the 2006 contest, respectively, were featured as guest performers during the show.Controversy and subsequent withdrawal
''Evropesma-Europjesma 2006'' saw the same voting pattern from the jurors from both republics. Despite the public vote winners, Serbian ''Beovizija 2006'' winner Flamingosi featuring Louis receiving over 7,000 votes more than the runner-up, ''Beovizija 2006'' runner-up Ana Nikolić, both of them did not receive any points from the Montenegrin jurors whereas No Name, which placed third in the public vote, were awarded eight points by the Serbian jurors (which awarded the Montenegrin acts about 1/4 of their votes) making it enough for them to score another win as all four Montenegrin jurors (which awarded the Serbian acts about 1/10 of their votes) awarded them maximum points. Realizing that the favourites were not going to win, the audience started leaving the event with the remaining audience booing No Name off the stage and throwing objects (such as bottles) at the stage during the reprise. The audience then wooed Flamingosi and Louis on stage as they performed their song with the other Serbian acts present on stage. Shortly after the competition, RTS held a press conference where it was announced that the two Serbian jurors that awarded No Name points, Milan Đurđević and Zoran Dašić, had withdrawn their votes in dispute of the tactical voting of the Montenegrin jury. The executive board of UJRT later issued a statement stating that they did not accept the victory of No Name as the voting violated the merits of the competition, albeit not being found irregular. Following failed negotiations of a new national final featuring the top five entries of ''Beovizija 2006'' and ''Montevizija 2006'' with the winner selected entirely by public televoting, both RTS and RTCG requested from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to intervene in accepting or annulling the competition results, however the EBU responded on 18 March by suggesting that the broadcasters find a solution on their own. On 20 March, the deadline for entry submissions to the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, the EBU announced that Serbia and Montenegro would be removed from the contest due to UJRT failing to submit an entry in time. However, RTS, the Serbian member of UJRT, would still broadcast the semi-final and final, and only viewers in Serbia would be able to vote.At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country, the " Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom) and the ten highest placed finishers in the are required to qualify from the semi-final in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from the semi-final progress to the final. As Serbia and Montenegro finished seventh in the 2005 contest, the nation automatically qualified to compete in the final on 20 May 2006. However, following its withdrawal from the contest on 20 March an empty slot for automatic qualification was left in the final, which was given to as they finished eleventh in 2005. The semi-final and the final were broadcast in Serbia on RTS1 and RTS Sat with commentary by Duška Vučinić-Lučić. UJRT appointed Jovana Janković as its spokesperson to announce the Serbian votes during the final. During the presentation of the points, Janković pointed that the country would return to the contest the following year with a song that will be "the best"; Serbia debuted as an independent country, winning the contest with its entry " Molitva" performed by Marija Šerifović. Janković also hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 inVoting
Below is a breakdown of points awarded by Serbia and Montenegro in the semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the semi-final and the final of the contest.Points awarded by Serbia and Montenegro
After Eurovision
On 21 May 2006, one day after the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, an independence referendum was held in Montenegro, where the majority of its population voted for independence. Montenegro formally declared its independence on 3 June 2006, and two days later, the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro officially ceased to exist. Both countries participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 separately as independent nations, with Serbia winning the contest and failing to qualify to the final until .References
{{Beovizija 2006 Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 Eurovision Eurovision