Country Contest 14

Semi-final 1 date
 Semi-final 2 date
 Final date
 Number of entries
 Debuting countries
 Returning countries
 Voting system

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*.

## Format

### 26-country final lock

On 26 March 2018, the CCU announced that the contest would only feature 10 qualifiers per semi-final from then on, with no possibility of a wildcard nor quarter-final qualifier. This comes after wildcard qualifiers Netherlands' 26th place in the 13th edition, Hungary's 27th place and Lebanon's 25th place in the 12th edition.

### Revert of 50/50 jury/televote in final

Due to "complaints from a number of Member Broadcasters", the CCU announced that the final would revert to using the traditional 50/50 televote/jury system. They added, "1% extra of votes was not going to change the outcome of the results, nevertheless. Tiebreakers have always been broken by the preference of the public vote, which is good enough of an advantage for the televoting."

### Semi-final allocation draw

Once again, countries were allocated to semi-finals based on geographical distance. The pots were announced as the following:

* Belarus
* Bulgaria
* Czech Republic
* Kazakhstan
* Poland
* Moldova
* Romania
* Slovakia
* Estonia
* Finland
* Iceland
* Lithuania
* Norway
* Sweden
* United Kingdom
* Croatia
* Cyprus
* Italy
* Lebanon
* Malta
* Montenegro
* Morocco
* Portugal
* San Marino
* Serbia
* Slovenia
* Belgium
* France
* Germany
* Monaco
* Netherlands
* Switzerland

## Semi-final 1

Greece, Luxembourg and Andorra 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.

## Semi-final 2

Macedonia, Spain and Ireland 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.

## Final

The 20 qualifiers from the semi-finals, as well as the top 6 of previous edition took part; all participating countries in the edition voted. Additionally, the highest scoring non-qualifier country qualified to the final as a wildcard act, which was revealed during the semi-final 2 results.

## Reactions

### San Marino

Following the revelation of the semi-final results, SMRTV stated that they were "deeply disappointed to be a victim of the televote/jury save system." They went on to say "We've tried many different things, which gives us a great performance with the juries. But the public voting, they are a different story. Constantly we have been liked by the juries, but the televoters rank us in the bottom. In the ninth edition, we were really saved by the juries and that gave us a fifth place position. It goes without saying that the only time the public really noticed us was the fourth edition, which actually was the smallest edition. But of course, we were beaten by our wonderful neighbors - by only 12 points. This isn't a one-time thing either, to be ranked low, as we've been border-line for the past 5 editions. As such, we've decided to go full on next edition, and use all of our resources possible for something, we hope. On the other hand, we are delighted the contest will return to our neighbors, Italy, after such a long time."

## Controversies

### "Big 6" Liechtenstein replacement

Liechtenstein placed 4th in the previous edition, participating and qualifying via the now-abandoned non-participation quarter-final, which allowed 1FLTV to participate by paying a "substantially lower-priced participation fee." With Liechtenstein being given an auto-qualification spot, it was presumed by fans and such that the country would participate. However, on 26 March 2018, 1FLTV announced that Liechtenstein would withdraw due to being unable to pay the participation fee, and the Government not prioritizing public television, let alone/save the Country Contest.

As a result, the CCU announced on 30 March 2018 that Andorra would replace Liechtenstein in the Big 6 and therefore automatically qualify to the Grand Final. However, the CCU stated, "It is unfortunate for the second time ever to have a country which could not fulfill its reward for placing in the Top 6, but we hope 1FLTV and Liechtenstein can make a greater comeback in the near future."

## Other countries

Further information: List of countries in the Country Contest
### **Active CCU members**

* Armenia
* Azerbaijan: Returned.
* Bosnia: BHTV withdrew due to unpaid debts, stating that "it's focus was to be indebted, in order to consider a return to the Contest."
* Hungary
* Ukraine: UA:PBC announced on 22 February 2018 that Ukraine would withdraw from the contest due to failing to qualify for the past 6 editions as well as the loss of interest in the country.
* Latvia
* Liechtenstein: On 26 March 2018, 1FLTV announced that Liechtenstein would withdraw from the contest "due to being unable to pay the participation fee, and the Government not prioritizing public television, let alone the Country Contest."

### **Eligible non-participants**

* Kosovo: Due to the fact that Greece did not recognize Kosovo, RTK was once again unable to confirm its participation.