The duo Valters un Kaža with their song “The War Is Not Over” won the national final Feb. 26 and will represent Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev, Ukraine, on May 21.

Valters un Kaža (Valters Frīdenbergs and Kārlis Būmeisters) are members of the group Putnu balle, which includes six former members of the children’s choir Dzeguzīte. The lyrics and music for the song were penned by Mārtiņš Freimanis, lead singer of the pop group Tumsa.

The performance earned 28,211 votes in national telephone balloting.

Second place went to Agnese un Intars (Agnese Kuplēna un Intars Upenieks) for their performance of “Sing It! Swing It!”, while third place went to Ksenija (Ksenija Jakuņina) for her performance of “In the Heat of the Night.” The newspaper Neatkarīga Rīta Avīze noted that voting activity this year was dramatically lower than in both 2004 and 2003.

Ten finalists competed in the contest, Eirodziesma 2005, held in Ventspils and broadcast nationally on Latvian State Television.

The Eurovision Song Contest marks its 50th anniversary this year. This will be Latvia’s sixth time competing. Latvia’s Marija Naumova won the contest in 2002.