Eurasian Song Contest 6

Pre-qualification round date
 Final date
 Host city
 Broadcaster
 Entries
 Debuting
 System
 Null points
 Winner

The **Eurasian Song Contest 6**, often referred to as **EASC 6**, was the sixth edition of the Eurasian Song Contest. The sixth edition took place in Bucharest, Romania, after Carla's Dreams won the fifth edition of the contest in Bodø, Norway, scoring 197 points with "Până la sânge".

## Location

**Bucharest** (/ˈb(j)uːkərɛst/; Romanian: *București* [bukuˈreʃtʲ] (listen)) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than 60 km (37.3 mi) north of the Danube River and the Bulgarian border.

Bucharest was first mentioned in documents in 1459. It became the capital of Romania in 1862 and is the centre of Romanian media, culture, and art. Its architecture is a mix of historical (neo-classical), interbellum (Bauhaus and art deco), communist era and modern. In the period between the two World Wars, the city's elegant architecture and the sophistication of its elite earned Bucharest the nickname of "Little Paris" (*Micul Paris*). Although buildings and districts in the historic city centre were heavily damaged or destroyed by war, earthquakes, and above all Nicolae Ceaușescu's program of systematization, many survived and have been renovated. In recent years, the city has been experiencing an economic and cultural boom. In 2016, the historical city centre was listed as "endangered" by the World Monuments Watch.

According to the 2011 census, 1,883,425 inhabitants live within the city limits, a decrease from the 2002 census. Adding the satellite towns around the urban area, the proposed metropolitan area of Bucharest would have a population of 2.27 million people. According to Eurostat, Bucharest has a functional urban area of 2,412,530 residents (as of 2015). Bucharest is the sixth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits, after London, Berlin, Madrid, Rome, and Paris.

Economically, Bucharest is the most prosperous city in Romania and is one of the main industrial centres and transportation hubs of Eastern and Central Europe. The city has big convention facilities, educational institutes, cultural venues, traditional "shopping arcades", and recreational areas.

The city proper is administratively known as the "Municipality of Bucharest" (*Municipiul București*), and has the same administrative level as that of a national county, being further subdivided into six sectors, each governed by a local mayor.

## Format

### Semi-final allocation draw

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place at on UPDATE 2018. The first part of the draw determined in which semi-final the automatic qualifiers would have to vote in. The second part of the draw decided in which half of the respective semi-finals each country would perform, with the exact running order determined by a draw at a later date. 20 and 19 countries will participate in the semi-finals, respectively with 14 countries participating in the pre-qualification round. From each semi-final, 10 countries will join the automatic qualifiers in the final, where a total of twenty-seven countries will participate.

The semi-finalists were allocated into random pots. Each time a country was drawn from the pot, its semi-final and half of the semi-final was determined.

### Running order

The running orders of the semi-finals were chosen alongside with the semi-final draws. When a country was drawn from a pot, its semi-final and running order place was drawn from another pot.

## Participating countries

Fifty-one countries participated in the edition. Six of them, Finland, India, Ireland, Italy, Mongolia and the host country Romania, pre-qualified for the grand final. Brunei and Iraq debuted in the edition, while Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Georgia, Iran, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, North Macedonia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Yemen withdrew. In addition, Belgium, China, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia and Poland returned after each had a one-edition absence. Slovenia also returned after a two-edition absence.

### Returning artists

Karencitta, who represented the Philippines in the fifth edition, returned to represent the country for a second time in a row. Rita Dakota, the Russian representative and the winner of the second edition, returned to represent her country of birth Belarus. Martin Jensen, the Danish representative in the second edition, returned to represent the country for a second time. Birdy, who represented the United Kingdom in the first edition together with Sigma, returned to represent the United Kingdom. Armenian representative Srbuk previously represented Armenia in the third edition. Eléni Fouréira returned to the contest after having been initially chosen to represent Greece in the second edition, however Greece was later forced to withdraw from the contest. Rose Quartz returned to this edition after having previously represented Thailand in the fourth edition. Ukrainian singer Sonya Kay returned to the contest after previously representing Moldova in the fifth edition. Turkmen singer Amalia returned to the contest after having previously represented Turkmenistan in the fourth edition. Irina Rimes returned to represent Moldova after having previously represented the country in the third edition.

Seka Aleksić was initially returning to the contest after having previously represented Bosnia and Herzegovina in the fourth edition, but Bosnia and Herzegovina was later forced to withdraw from the contest.

## Results

### Pre-qualification round

Thirteen countries participated in the pre-qualification round. In addition to the participants, Finland, India and Mongolia voted in the pre-qualification round. The highlighted countries qualified for the semi-finals. Iraq automatically qualified to the grand final for winning the pre-qualification round. The Netherlands and the Philippines were disqualified due to failing to present their votes in time. In addition, Bosnia and Herzegovina was forced to withdraw due to the song being an obvious cover song of another song.

### Semi-final 1

Nineteen countries participated in the first semi-final. Finland, India and Romania were allocated to vote in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the grand final. Malaysia and Serbia were disqualified due to failing to present their votes in time.

### Semi-final 2

Nineteen countries participated in the first semi-final. Ireland, Italy and Mongolia were allocated to vote in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the grand final. Israel was disqualified due to failing to present their votes in time.

## Other countries

Eligibility for potential participation in the Eurasian Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active EABU membership that would be able to broadcast the contest. As in every edition, an invitation to all the members have been sent in order to confirm whether they will participate or not. The following list of countries declined stating their reasons as shown below.

**Active EABU members**

* Latvia: LTV announced Latvia's withdrawal from the contest, stating budget issues and low interest as their reason for withdrawing from the contest.
* Luxembourg: RTL was disqualified in the previous edition after having failed to submit their votes due to an internal mistake. The issue has yet to been fixed, which prevents the nation from taking part in the contest.
* Slovakia: After having failed to submit their votes without giving a proper reason, Slovakia was penalized and could not take part in the fifth edition of the contest. As a result, Slovakia also had to pay fees to the EABU, forcing Slovakia to sit out the sixth edition, as well, stated by the broadcaster RTVS.

## Notes

* **^** Contains a repeated line in English.
* **^** Contains a repeated word in English.
* **^** Contains a few words in Spanish.