How the current system works



This image shows the current system works, exemplified by semi-final 2 from edition 24. First the top 6 countries in the internal ranking – ranked by countries allocated to vote in that semi-final – are “locked-in”, and are secured of a qualification. After this, the external votes (votes from participants from the other semi-finals) are added to the scores and the top two countries in the combined ranking that still haven’t qualified are through, in this case the Bahamas and Italy.



This system can lead to some interesting results, such as 11th-placed Belgium qualifying over 6th-placed Wales.



Should we ditch the lock-ins, the top 8 in the combined ranking will qualify. If we apply that to the results above, Wales and Ireland would qualify instead of Ghana and Belgium.

