Eurasian Song Contest 5

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

The **Eurasian Song Contest 5**, often referred to as **EASC 5**, was the fifth edition of the Eurasian Song Contest. The fifth edition took place in Bodø, Norway, after K-391, Alan Walker, Julie Bergan and Seungri won the fourth edition of the contest in Omsk, Russia, scoring 197 points with "Ignite".

## Location

**Bodø** (pronounced [buːdøː]); Lule Sami: *Bådåddjo*) is a town and a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Salten and it is the capital of Nordland county. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Bodø. Bodø, located just north of the Arctic Circle, is the largest urban area and city in Nordland county, and the second-largest in North Norway. The 1,395-square-kilometre (539 sq mi) municipality is the 62nd largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Bodø is the 16th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 51,022. The municipality's population density is 38.9 inhabitants per square kilometre (101/sq mi) and its population has increased by 12% over the last decade.

The village of Bodø was granted township status in 1816 and soon after, in 1818, it was known for the Bodø affair, smuggling by British merchants that later were compensated by Norway. The town of Bodø was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. On 1 January 1938, a part of the municipality of Bodin (population: 559) was transferred into the town of Bodø. On 1 January 1959, another part of Bodin (population: 1,303) was transferred into Bodø.

On 1 January 1968, the municipality of Bodin was merged into the town of Bodø, doubling the population of the town. On 1 January 1984, the Tårnvika and Øygården areas (population: 22) northeast of Kjerringøy in Sørfold municipality was transferred to Bodø. On 1 January 2005, the entire municipality of Skjerstad was merged into the municipality of Bodø.

## Format

### Semi-final allocation draw

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place at on 15 October 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 21 countries will participate in the semi-finals, respectively with 12 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-three countries participated in the edition. Six of them, Finland, India, Mongolia, Spain, the United Kingdom and the host country Norway pre-qualified for the grand final. Luxembourg and Yemen debuted in the edition, while Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, China, Cyprus, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Myanmar, Poland, Sri Lanka and Taiwan withdrew. In addition, Ireland, Mongolia and the Philippines returned after each had a one-edition absence.

### Returning artists

Rayhon, who represented Uzbekistan in the second edition, returned to represent the country for a second time. April Ivy, the Portuguese representative in the first edition, returned to represent the country for a second time. Latvian DJ Rodion Gordin returns to the contest after having previously represented Latvia in the first edition with Markus Riva, now together with Katrina Cirule and Rassell. Paula, the Lithuanian representative in the second edition, returned to represent the country for a second time. Anne-Marie, who represented the Netherlands in the first edition together with Marshmello, returned to represent Iran together with Rudimental, Major Lazer and Mr Eazy. Romanian representative Carla's Dreams previously represented Moldova in the fourth edition. Alice Merton, who represented Germany in the second edition, returned to represent her country for the second time. Mihaela Fileva returned to this edition after having previously represented Bulgaria in the second edition. Norwegian singer Jesper Jenset returned to the contest after previously representing Norway in the second edition, this time also as the host entry, now with Polish DJ Gromee.

## Results

### Pre-qualification round

Twelve 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. Portugal automatically qualified to the grand final for winning the pre-qualification round. FYR Macedonia and Malta were disqualified due to failing to present their votes in time.

### Semi-final 1

Twenty countries participated in the first semi-final. Norway, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom were allocated to vote in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the grand final. Belarus and France and the Netherlands were disqualified due to failing to present their votes in time.

### Semi-final 2

Twenty-one countries participated in the first semi-final. Finland, India and Mongolia were allocated to vote in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the grand final. Luxembourg was disqualified due to failing to present their votes in time.

## Notes

* **^** Contains a few words in both English and Spanish.
* **^** Contains a repeated word in English.
* **^** Contains few lines in English.