Country Contest 13

The Country Contest 13 will be the thirteenth edition of the contest. Once again, the CCU invited no guest countries, due to the announcement of the World Country Contest. The contest featured no major format changes. For the first time in the contest's history, no countries debuted with Kosovo now being the only possible country to do so. However, Belgium and Netherlands returned to the contest after an 7-edition break. Lithuania also returned after a 5 edition and Montenegro after a 2 edition. Georgia, Jordan, Liberland, Libya, Russia and Tunisia withdrew. Notably, Russia participated in 11 of 12 editions and always qualified to the final, with C1R citing its disagreement with the weight of the jury and decreasing interest in the country.
== Format ==
=== Televote majority weight ===
On 27 February 2018, the CCU announced that starting this edition, a majority of 51% would be weighted by the televoting, whilst the jury vote will weight 49%, to "give a 'majority power' to the televoters." The CCU also explained that the juries would remain as "they are a vital part of making the results fairer." Spain had won the televote of the previous edition by a landslide, 64 points more than the 2nd placed Greece. This new system was not used in the semi-finals as the CCU stated that "The highest placing non-top 8 televoter is already given a spot to the Grand Final." However, each country still gave 12,10,8-1 points as usual, with the total votes being reduced after all the juries announced their points. This new system allowed the televoters to give 2,899 points, whilst the juries gave 2,785 points - 114 more points for the televoters.
=== Semi-final qualifiers ===
The CCU announced that this edition would have 10 qualifiers from both semi-finals again, to prevent having a large final of 28 countries, thus prolonging the runtime of the show. This change was attributed to the participation amount being decreased by 2 countries, meaning that 50% of the countries of each semi-final would now qualify with 10 rather than 11 qualifiers.
=== Guest countries ===
The CCU reassured that no guest countries would appear nor reappear this edition as the previously announced World Country Contest made the use of [them] "useless and unapparent". It was also confirmed that talks with several broadcasting unions of continents and national broadcasters had been slowed down due to contractual issues within several aspects.
=== Semi-final allocation draw ===
Due to bloc voting, the CCU announced after complaints that this edition countries would be allocated to semi-finals based on geographical distance. The pots were announced as the following:
Eastern (11)	Northern (7)	Southern (15)	Western (7)
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Following the allocation draw, many complained that specially Southern Europe but also Eastern have an advantage with many countries, stating that there should be an equal amount of countries in each pot to avoid having more countries from Southern or Eastern Europe in the same semi-final.
== Quarter-final ==
The CCU and RTVE announced that this edition would introduce a quarter-final for absent countries. This would allow them to enter the competition and pay a substantially lower-priced submission fee. Russia and Vatican City were the only eligible countries to not participate, due to their reasons stated before. Libya and Jordan also participated as their broadcasters had not yet initiated the withdrawal process from the CCU. The winner would automatically qualify to the Grand Final and be allocated to vote in one of the semi-finals. The show was not considered a part of the competition, and was hosted by a bidding winner. The host country was determined via four rounds of voting, conducted by panels and focus groups within the CCU. Following 5 rounds of voting, Sweden was proclaimed as the host country of the quarter-final and opted to choose its #12 city Gothenburg as the host city. SVT from then on took over everything related to the quarter-final and announced that given the unpopularity and size of the quarter-final, a focus group would once again determine the public voting - though this time, they would come from 9 different countries. The jury vote would also no longer be up to the CCU as they would be from 9 different countries. Liechtenstein won the quarter-final with 187 points, receiving 94 points from the juries and 93 from the focus groups, though narrowly winning the juries.
Quarter-final bidding (25 majority)
Bidders	Votes 	Votes 	Votes 	Votes 	Votes 	Votes 	Votes
Bidders	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 3 	Round 4	Round 4 	Round 4
Bidders	Round 1	Round 2	Regular	Wildcard	Regular	Previous	Total
 	15 	17 	19 	 	21 	17 	38
 	19 	18 	18 	18 	18 	18 	36
& 	17 	19 	18 	17 	 	 	
 	17 	16 	 	 	 	 	
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The following countries confirmed their intention to participate:
Draw	Country	Place	Points
01 	 	7 	75
02 	 	5 	135
03 	 	8 	70
04 	 	6 	106
05 	 	4 	142
06 	 	2 	166
07 	 	1 	187
08 	 	9 	46
09 	 	3 	151
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The 9 participating countries were ineligible to vote in the preliminary round, to prevent them for voting for their lesser favorite cities to try to win the round. Instead, 9 jury members from 9 countries (90 total) voted for their favorite by ranking from favorite to least. The results were revealed after the semi-final 2 qualifiers of the main show were announced.
== Semi-final 1 ==
Estonia, Iceland and Luxembourg also voted here. The top eight overall countries qualified to the Grand Final. The ninth and tenth qualifiers were respectively determined by the highest placed televote and jury qualifier which did not place in the top 8 overall.
Draw	Country	Place	Points
01 	 	16 	97
02 	 	12 	142
03 	 	20 	42
04 	 	6 	160
05 	 	2 	176
06 	 	13 	141
07 	 	3 	170
08 	 	8 	155
09 	 	5 	162
10 	 	18 	75
11 	 	14 	135
12 	 	4 	163
13 	 	1 	185
14 	 	10 	152
15 	 	9 	152
16 	 	15 	101
17 	 	19 	58
18 	 	17 	95
19 	 	11 	149
20 	 	7 	156
Split jury/televote results	Split jury/televote results	Split jury/televote results	Split jury/televote results	Split jury/televote results
Place 	Televoting 	Points 	Jury 	Points
1 	 	95 	 	109
2 	 	92 	 	101
3 	 	88 	 	95
4 	 	83 	 	95
5 	 	81 	 	84
6 	 	77 	 	83
7 	 	76 	 	81
8 	 	75 	 	79
9 	 	73 	 	77
10 	 	71 	 	75
11 	 	71 	 	68
12 	 	68 	 	64
13 	 	64 	 	61
14 	 	63 	 	52
15 	 	61 	 	47
16 	 	61 	 	44
17 	 	53 	 	40
18 	 	37 	 	31
19 	 	28 	 	27
20 	 	15 	 	21
== Semi-final 2 ==
Finland, Slovenia and Spain also voted here, while a glimpse of Liechtenstein was shown. The top eight overall countries qualified to the Grand Final. The ninth and tenth qualifiers were respectively determined by the highest placed televote and jury qualifier which did not place in the top 8 overall.
Draw	Country	Place	Points
01 	 	13 	122
02 	 	8 	150
03 	 	2 	191
04 	 	16 	92
05 	 	7 	155
06 	 	19 	80
07 	 	10 	144
08 	 	17 	82
09 	 	14 	118
10 	 	12 	127
11 	 	11 	136
12 	 	9 	148
13 	 	1 	220
14 	 	18 	82
15 	 	3 	173
16 	 	6 	155
17 	 	15 	103
18 	 	20 	44
19 	 	5 	171
20 	 	4 	173
Split jury/televote results	Split jury/televote results	Split jury/televote results	Split jury/televote results	Split jury/televote results
Place 	Televoting 	Points 	Jury 	Points
1 	 	117 	 	103
2 	 	99 	 	97
3 	 	97 	 	92
4 	 	88 	 	88
5 	 	80 	 	85
6 	 	80 	 	83
7 	 	79 	 	80
8 	 	76 	 	76
9 	 	75 	 	75
10 	 	71 	 	75
11 	 	65 	 	69
12 	 	61 	 	64
13 	 	60 	 	60
14 	 	53 	 	57
15 	 	52 	 	53
16 	 	43 	 	47
17 	 	43 	 	44
18 	 	39 	 	39
19 	 	36 	 	25
20 	 	19 	 	21
== Final ==
The 20 qualifiers from the semi-finals, as well as the top 6 of previous edition, quarter-final winner Liechtenstein and wildcard act took part; all participating countries in the edition voted, including international televote (with its weight increased by double the points), equaling 49 sets of points.
Draw	Country	Place	Points
01 	 	19 	176
02 	 	1 	395
03 	 	28 	46
04 	 	27 	99
05 	 	14 	217
06 	 	5 	256
07 	 	2 	272
08 	 	13 	219
09 	 	12 	219
10 	 	9 	236
11 	 	20 	174
12 	 	3 	270
13 	 	26 	119
14 	 	21 	171
15 	 	10 	227
16 	 	4 	264
17 	 	17 	188
18 	 	8 	239
19 	 	24 	142
20 	 	16 	189
21 	 	6 	242
22 	 	23 	165
23 	 	7 	241
24 	 	18 	179
25 	 	15 	212
26 	 	11 	224
27 	 	25 	136
28 	 	22 	170
== Other countries ==
=== Active CCU members ===
* : GBP announced that due to failing to qualify for the final for 5 editions and the lack of interest in the country, that "Georgia would take a hiatus from the contest."
* : JRTV announced that due to its lack of interest in the Contest or Union, that it would withdraw from the Contest and CCU.
* : LTC announced that Liberland would withdraw as a result of the "the disappointing 15th place in the televoting of its semi-final" last edition, which caused a drop in sponsors.
* : LNC announced that due to its lack of interest in the Contest or Union, that it would withdraw from the Contest and CCU.
* : C1R announced that Russia would withdraw from the contest due to its "disagreement with the 50% weight of juries in a live competition" and decreasing interest of the contest in the country.
* : RTTT announced its withdrawal from the contest due to its lack of interest in the competition.
=== Eligible non-participants ===
* : ENTV stated that Algeria would not be making a comeback in the near future.
* : VRT and RTBF announced in a joint statement that Belgium would return to the contest. RTBF later announced that they would take over the participation for the edition, with VRT taking over next edition.
* : ERTU stated that a return to the contest was not in their near plans.
* : As host country Spain does not recognize Kosovo, RTK was unable to confirm its intention to debut.
* : 1FLTV stated that financial issues once again was an issue, disallowing Liechtenstein to participate. Despite this, Liechtenstein returned to the contest as a result of winning the quarter-final, which allowed non-participating countries to participate by paying a "substantially lower-priced fee."
* : LTU announced that Lithuania would return to the contest, as a result of part-neighbor's Estonia's record-breaking 5th place.
* : RTCG confirmed that they would stick to their promise to return to the contest this edition.
* : AVROTROS announced that Netherlands would return to the contest.
* : VR stated that they were not planning on a return.
=== Banned countries ===
* : ITV stated that "[they] regret joining the [other Union] and would work towards a return for the 15th edition." Mədəniyyət TV, another state-owned broadcaster focusing on culture, which was not banned, stated that "they were considering a debut in the 14th edition."
* : TRT stated that the ban of Turkey in the Contest marked "the end of TRT's involvement in the Contest." Turkey later held a Congress vote whether to leave or remain in the Union, with Leave winning by an amount of 61%; TRT subsequently announced its withdrawal from the CCU. This vote also forbid other broadcasters to attempt to join the Union.