Bulgaria has opened its campaign to find a representative for the next Eurovision song contest. The final choice will be made in March 2006, it was announced on Wednesday.

Applicants should submit their songs at the state Bulgarian National Television until January 20, 2006. The tracks should be no longer than three minutes, and should not had been publicly shown and commercially distributed before October 1, 2005.

Last year, the Bulgarian participation in the spectacle was marred by a vote-forging scandal.

The country's representative band, Kaffe, were accused by another Bulgarian contestants of generating sms vote through specially bough SIM cards. The scandal broke during the live gala concert in Sofia when the winners were announced.

Bulgaria's next runner in Eurovision will be chosen in three rounds. A jury panel will first sort out 24 songs until February 24, 2006. Half of those will stay in the race later that month.

BNT will show the decisive round on March 11, when the twelve finalists will perform their tunes to collect SMS support from viewers.

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