Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996

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Eurovision Song Contest 1996
Participating broadcaster	Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep Nederlandstalige Uitzendingen (BRTN)
Country	Belgium
National selection
Selection process	De gouden zeemeermin
Selection date(s)	Semi-finals: 3 February 1996 10 February 1996 17 February 1996 24 February 1996 Final: 9 March 1996
Selected artist(s)	Lisa del Bo
Selected song	"Liefde is een kaartspel"
Selected songwriter(s)	John Terra Siirak Brogden Daniël Ditmar
Finals performance
Final result	16th, 22 points
Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1995 • 1996 • 1998►

Belgium was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 with the song "Liefde is een kaartspel", composed by John Terra and Siirak Brogden, with lyrics by Daniël Ditmar, and performed by Lisa del Bo. The Belgian participating broadcaster, Flemish Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep Nederlandstalige Uitzendingen (BRTN), selected its entry through a national final.

De Gouden Zeemeermin (The Golden Mermaid) was the national final format developed by Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep Nederlandstalige Uitzendingen (BRTN) in order to select the Belgian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1996. 40 songs in total took part in the national final, which consisted of four semi-finals between 3 and 24 February 1996 and a final on 9 March 1996. All five shows took place at the Knokke Casino Studios in Knokke and were hosted by Michel Follet and Alexandra Potvin.^[1]

Artists wishing to compete in De Gouden Zeemeermin had to submit a photograph, biography, and at least two recorded songs to BRTN. Out of 117 applications, 40 were chosen to compete and they had until 8 January 1996 to submit a song. Prior to 8 January 1996, two candidates withdrew their participation: Katja Vandl and Ann Swartenbroeckx. They were replaced by Kaye and Chrissy.^[1]

Ten songs competed in each semi-final with the top three from each qualifying for the final. The results for the semi-finals were determined exclusively by a seven-member professional jury, who each awarded 12, 10, or 8–1 points to each song (i.e. they could award 12 points to more than one song if they chose). The professional jury consisted of: Guy De Pré, Leen Demaré, Marc Brillouet, Sabine De Vos, Marc De Schuyter, Nora Nys, and Ro Burms. Former Belgian Eurovision representative, Jacques Raymond, acted as a non-voting chairman of the jury.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

The final took place on 9 March 1996 and the twelve entries that advanced from the preceding four semi-finals competed. The winner was selected by a combination of votes from five regional juries in Belgium (25%), a press jury (25%) and a professional jury (50%). The professional jury consisted of the same seven members as in the semi-finals. "Liefde is een kaartspel" performed by Lisa del Bo was selected as the winner, having been ranked first by all but the press jury.^[1][7][8]

In 1996, for the only time in Eurovision history, an audio-only qualifying round of the 29 songs entered (excluding hosts Norway who were exempt) was held in March in order for the seven lowest-scoring songs to be eliminated before the final. "Liefde is een kartspel" placed 12th, thus qualifying for the final.^[9] As of 2022, this is the last time that Belgium had sung its entry in Dutch.

On the night of the final del Bo performed 16th in the running order, following the Netherlands and preceding the eventual winner Ireland. At the close of the voting "Liefde is een kaartspel" placed 16th of the 23 entries, having received 22 points.^[10] The result was not good enough to prevent Belgium from being relegated from the 1997 contest on the cumulative countback rule. The Belgian jury awarded its 12 points to the United Kingdom.^[11]

"Liefde is een kaartspel" later became embroiled in controversy when it was alleged that it had been plagiarised by the Swedish 2001 entry "Listen To Your Heartbeat". This was initially denied by the writers of the Swedish song, but Belgian songwriters' association SABAM threatened legal action, and a cash settlement was agreed to forestall this.^[12]

Points awarded to Belgium (qualifying round)[13] Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points  Spain 7 points  United Kingdom 6 points  Israel  Portugal 5 points 4 points  Finland  Ireland  Poland 3 points 2 points  Norway  Romania  Turkey 1 point

Points awarded by Belgium (qualifying round)[13] Score Country 12 points  Sweden 10 points  Malta 8 points  Ireland 7 points  United Kingdom 6 points  Portugal 5 points  Estonia 4 points  Netherlands 3 points   Switzerland 2 points  Slovenia 1 point  Austria

Points awarded to Belgium (final)[14] Score Country 12 points  Spain 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points  United Kingdom 4 points 3 points 2 points  Croatia  Netherlands 1 point  Estonia

Points awarded by Belgium (final)[14] Score Country 12 points  United Kingdom 10 points  Sweden 8 points  Norway 7 points  France 6 points  Portugal 5 points  Turkey 4 points  Croatia 3 points  Ireland 2 points   Switzerland 1 point  Netherlands