85 entries competed to represent Moldova in Baku, with 21 being shortlisted to participate in the televised national final which took place on 11 March 2012 after auditioning in front of a jury panel.

"Lăutar" performed by Pasha Parfeny emerged as the winner after gaining the most points following the combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote.

[1] The nation's best placing in the contest was sixth, which it achieved in 2005 with the song "Boonika bate doba" performed by Zdob și Zdub.

In the 2011 contest, "So Lucky" performed by Zdob și Zdub qualified Moldova to compete in the final and placed twelfth.

[2] O melodie pentru Europa 2012 was the national final format developed by TRM in order to select Moldova's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012.

The event took place at the TRM Studio 2 in Chișinău, hosted by Marcel Spataru, Evelina Vârlan and Dorina Gherganov, and included a final to be held on 11 March 2012.

[8][9] A jury consisting of Olga Ciolacu (singer), Igor Dînga (producer and composer), Vali Boghean (singer-songwriter), Tatiana Cerga (singer), Andrei Sava (composer), Victoria Tcacenco (professor at the Music, Theatre and Fine Arts Academy) and Dana Argint (Orange Moldova representative) selected 60 out of the 85 received entries to proceed to the audition round.

[10] The live audition round took place on 29 January 2012 at TRM Studio 2 in Chișinău where the jury panel 20 finalists were selected to advance.

Twenty-one songs competed and the winner was selected based on the combination of a public televote and the votes of an expert jury.

The jury that voted in the final included Nicu Țărnă (singer), Olga Ciolacu (singer), Vali Boghean (singer-songwriter), Tatiana Cerga (singer), Igor Dînga (producer and composer), Victoria Tcacenco (professor at the Music, Theatre and Fine Arts Academy), Andrei Sava (composer), Angela Brașoveanu (journalist), Igor Cobileanschi (director), Ludmila Climoc (Orange Moldova representative) and Anatol Chiriac (composer).

On 21 April, Pasha Parfeny performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Ruth Jacott and Cornald Maas.

[23][24] The dancers that joined Parfeny on stage are Aliona Moon, Tatiana Heghea, Julia Gakhova, Ksyusha Vertelnikova and Lera Kirichenko.

The latter three are members of the Ukrainian ballet group "Lyubovniki", while Aliona Moon would go on to represent Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013.

This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act.