Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1991

The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) held a national final to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1991. Each division of SRG SSR — Swiss German and Romansh broadcaster Schweizer Fernsehen der deutschen und rätoromanischen Schweiz (SF DRS), Swiss French broadcaster Télévision suisse romande (TSR), and Swiss Italian broadcaster Televisione Svizzera di lingua italiana (TSI) — used its own method to select its entries for the final.^[1][2] Eligible songs were required to have been composed by songwriters from Switzerland or Liechtenstein, and applicants could register their songs in a cassette tape until 27 October 1990.^[2]

In total, 143 songs were submitted (with 18 being invalid), of which nine were selected: three each in French, German and Italian.^[3] It is unknown how the regional broadcasters selected their songs.

TSR staged the national final on 23 February 1991 at 20:40 (CET) at the Casino du Rivage in Vevey.^[2][3][4] It was hosted by Lolita Morena, with Benoît Kaufman accompanying the orchestra.^[5] The national final was broadcast on TSR, SF, and TSI.^[4] The show was also aired on TV5 Europe in 9 April and on TV5 Québec Canada, in 14 May.^[6][7] Egon Egemann, who had represented Switzerland in 1990, made a guest appearance.

Among the participating artists were Daniela Simons, who had represented Switzerland in 1986; and Carol Rich, who represented Switzerland in 1987.

The voting consisted of regional public votes which were sent to the three divisions of SRG SSR (SF DRS, TSR, TSI: German-Romansh, French, and Italian speaking, respectively), a press jury, and an "expert" jury.^[8][9] Applications for viewers to join the regional juries were sent via postcard until the week before the final, and 50 viewers from each canton were randomly selected to cast their votes to their broadcaster divisions via phone call.^[9] The winner was the song "Canzone per te", composed by Renato Mascetti and performed by Sandra Simó, who received the maximum number of points available.

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At the Eurovision Song Contest 1991, held at Cinecittà Studios in Rome, the Swiss entry was the tenth entry of the night following Austria and preceding Greece. The Swiss conductor at the contest was Flaviano Cuffari. At the close of voting, Switzerland had received 118 points in total; finishing in fifth place out of twenty-two countries.

Each participating broadcaster assembled a jury panel with at least eleven members. The jurors awarded 1-8, 10, and 12 points to their top ten songs.

Points awarded to Switzerland[10] Score Country 12 points  Belgium  Luxembourg 10 points 8 points  Austria  Cyprus  Israel  Sweden  United Kingdom 7 points  Greece 6 points  Germany  Portugal 5 points  Denmark  Finland  Iceland  Yugoslavia 4 points  France  Italy 3 points  Norway 2 points  Ireland  Turkey 1 point

Points awarded by Switzerland[10] Score Country 12 points  Spain 10 points  Sweden 8 points  Israel 7 points  France 6 points  Malta 5 points  United Kingdom 4 points  Iceland 3 points  Ireland 2 points  Italy 1 point  Portugal