In the history of the Eurovision Song Contest Portugal ended up quite unsatisfactory. People have been very disappointed that those beautiful, often melancholic Portuguese songs did not have any chance in Europe. Portugal also thought of a complete opting out like Luxembourg. But one of the greatest successes was in 1991 with "Lusitana Paixao" sung by Dulce Pontes, who came 8th in Rome. In the meantime she has become a star in her country and is celebrated as the new Alma Rodriguez (Fado singer).

This year the beautiful singer Rita Guerra is going to represent Portugal in Riga. Portugal uses the same system like Spain and Ireland (Operación Trifuno) for choosing their candidate for Eurovision. Rita already took part at the Portuguese final in 1992 and came second, after that she has been on stage in the casino of Estoril and released her first album.

Critics describe Rita as very talented singer, who's got a warm voice which is very suitable for jazz and ballads. Her song "Deixa-me sonhar" is going to be one of the slowest ballads of this years entries. There was no ballad winning in the last years, so it's going to be tough to win for Portugal.