Accusations of political skulduggery are flying in advance of tomorrow night's final of the Eurovision song contest, the annual extravaganza of Euro-pop kitsch.

The event is being hosted by Ukraine, last year's winners. But suspicions have been roused by the fact that Ukraine's entry for this year's competition is none other than the election campaign anthem of the new Ukrainian president, Viktor Yushchenko.

The group Greenjolly’s "Razom Nas Bahato" (Together We Are Many) was sung by demonstrators on the barricades as they protested against former president Leonid Kuchma’s regime in Kiev’s Independence Square.

The surprise choice of Greenjolly - a group largely unknown before the revolution, and added to the list of entries at the last moment - unleashed an torrent of criticism of the new government, which was accused of manipulating the vote.

The criticism was all the more intense because Greenjolly was running against local pop star Ani Lorak - who backed the former prime minister Viktor Yanukovich in the Ukrainian presidential election that eventually brought Mr Yushchenko to power.

The victory of Mr Yanukovich, Kuchma’s choice, in last year's polls triggered huge protests in Independence Square which ultimately led to the result being overturned by the country's highest court. Mr Yushchenko then went on to triumph in rerun elections.

One of his first moves after taking office in January was to state his commitment to hosting Eurovision, describing it as a showcase that could help the new Ukraine move closer to its aim of joining the European Union. More than 150 million viewers from across Europe tune in to watch.

Ukraine’s Ruslana won the contest in Istanbul last year and thus it fell to Kiev to host this year’s event.

Yesterday, there were scuffles between police and several hundred opposition protestors who tried to approach Kiev's Palace of Sports, where on Saturday some 4,000 police officers will guard the contest.

And the protests are coming not just from disappointed Yanukovich supporters. "During the revolution, many no doubt listened with pleasure to this dilettante rap (Greenjolly)," said the online newspaper Ukraiinska Pravda. "But don’t the singers themselves understand that this emotion-charged work should have remained ... a part of history and nothing more?"

To deflect criticism the group was obliged to modify the lyrics of the song. One verse in the original version went: "No falsifications! No lies! No machinations! Yes Yushchenko! Yes Yushchenko! This is our president!" The new version removes mentions of the current president’s name.

The dilemma of where to lodge the 40,000 people expected to turn up in a city that lacks mid-range hotels has led the authorities to set up a tent city in a park beside the Dnieper river that runs through the capital. Eurovision fans will be charged 10 dollars a night for the amenity.

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