Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005
In the first round, fourteen competing acts participated in a televised production where public televoting selected the top three entries to qualify to the final.In the final, "Boys and Girls" performed by Angelica Agurbash was initially selected as the winner by a jury panel, however the singer opted to withdraw her song and the replacement entry, "Love Me Tonight", was announced on 18 March 2005.[2] Evrovidenie 2005 - Otborochny Tur was the national final format developed by BTRC to select the Belarusian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2005.[7][8] Only the top three placings were announced, but results displayed on screen shortly before the telephone lines were closed showed that Polina Smolova was in the lead with 1,529 votes.[5][12] Following the Belarusian national final, Angelica Agurbash stated that she could be changing her contest song following public feedback and upon receiving new proposals from composers.[16] To specifically promote "Love Me Tonight" as the Belarusian Eurovision entry, Angelica Agurbash made appearances in 17 countries across Europe between 11 April and 10 May 2005.