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Time for the juries to make their choice

11 May 2016 at 23:00 CEST
Executive Supervisor Jon Ola Sand follows proceedings Anna Velikova (EBU)
The live show for the second Semi-Final takes place tomorrow evening, when viewers in 21 countries will have their opportunity to vote to decide the ten qualifiers for the Grand Final. However this evening's show is of equal significance, as this is the show that the professional juries will be watching and voting on, as they are responsible for 50% of the total points.

18 Songs: 21 Juries

Eighteen songs will participate in the second Semi-Final, and professional juries in each of the participating countries, as well as in Germany, Italy and United Kingdom, will be voting on tonight's show. They will account for 50% of the overall total.

Each jury will be comprised of five members, (including a chairperson) who will be the same jurors who will also be voting in the Final. They will monitored by an independent notary in each country. The jury consists of a variety of members in terms of age, gender, and background. They are all citizens of the country they are representing.

The juries vote tonight, so that the EBU has a valid voting result before tomorrow's live show. Should any unexpected problems occur in the televoting, the jury votes can be used as back-ups. This setup also allows the EBU and PwC, who carefully monitor the voting, to assure the validity of the jury voting before the live show. In case of apparent irregularities, a national jury vote may be discarded.

None of the jury members are connected with any of the participating songs or artists, in order that they can vote independently. All jury members have made signed declarations stating that they will vote independently.

You can find out who is in each national jury below.

The Jury Voting

Each jury member will rank all the songs in the show by judging each song, each jury member will focus on the vocal capability of the artists, the performance on stage, the composition and originality of the song, and the overall impression by the act.

You can see a further explanation of the voting in the short video below.

The second Semi-Final contenders

  1. Latvia: Heartbeat sung by Justs
  2. Poland: Color Of Your Life sung by Michał Szpak
  3. Switzerland: The Last Of Our Kind sung by Rykka
  4. Israel: Made Of Stars sung by Hovi Star
  5. Belarus: Help You Fly sung by IVAN
  6. Serbia: Goodbye (Shelter) sung by Sanja Vučić ZAA
  7. Ireland: Sunlight sung by Nicky Byrne
  8. FYR Macedonia: Dona sung by Kaliopi
  9. Lithuania: I've Been Waiting For This Night sung by Donny Montell
  10. Australia: Sound Of Silence sung by Dami Im
  11. Slovenia: Blue And Red sung by ManuElla
  12. Bulgaria: If Love Was A Crime sung by Poli Genova
  13. Denmark: Soldiers Of Love sung by Lighthouse X
  14. Ukraine: 1944 sung by Jamala
  15. Norway: Icebreaker sung by Agnete
  16. Georgia: Midnight Gold sung by Nika Kocharov and Young Georgian Lolitaz
  17. Albania: Fairytale sung by Eneda Tarifa
  18. Belgium: What's The Pressure sung by Laura Tesoro

The live show of the second Semi-Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 will take place on Thursday 12th of May at 21:00 CET and will broadcast live on Eurovision.tv.

Which songs do you think the juries favour over the televoters?