Country Contest 13

Semi-final 1 date
 Semi-final 2 date
 Final date
 Venue
 Presenter(s)
 Host broadcaster
 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*. 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:

* Belarus
* Bulgaria
* Czech Republic
* Hungary
* Kazakhstan
* Poland
* Moldova
* Romania
* Slovakia
* Ukraine
* Ireland
* Latvia
* Lithuania
* Norway
* Sweden
* United Kingdom
* Andorra
* Bosnia
* Croatia
* Cyprus
* Greece
* Italy
* Lebanon
* Macedonia
* Malta
* Montenegro
* Morocco
* Portugal
* San Marino
* Serbia
* Belgium
* France
* Germany
* Monaco
* Netherlands
* Switzerland

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.

The following countries confirmed their intention to participate:

* Algeria
* Azerbaijan (Mədəniyyət TV)
* Egypt
* Georgia
* Jordan
* Liberland
* Libya
* **Liechtenstein**
* Tunisia

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.

## 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.

## 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.

## Other countries

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

* Georgia: 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."
* Jordan: JRTV announced that due to its lack of interest in the Contest or Union, that it would withdraw from the Contest and CCU.
* Liberland: 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.
* Libya: LNC announced that due to its lack of interest in the Contest or Union, that it would withdraw from the Contest and CCU.
* Russia: 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.
* Tunisia: RTTT announced its withdrawal from the contest due to its lack of interest in the competition.

### **Eligible non-participants**

* Algeria: ENTV stated that Algeria would not be making a comeback in the near future.
* Belgium: 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.
* Egypt: ERTU stated that a return to the contest was not in their near plans.
* Kosovo: As host country Spain does not recognize Kosovo, RTK was unable to confirm its intention to debut.
* Liechtenstein: 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."
* Lithuania: LTU announced that Lithuania would return to the contest, as a result of part-neighbor's Estonia's record-breaking 5th place.
* Montenegro: RTCG confirmed that they would stick to their promise to return to the contest this edition.
* Netherlands: AVROTROS announced that Netherlands would return to the contest.
* Vatican City: VR stated that they were not planning on a return.

### **Banned countries**

* Azerbaijan: 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."
* Turkey: 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.