Eurovision song contest 2013 in Malmö seems to be in trouble with several countries withdrawing for various reasons: financial for Andorra, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Luxembourg, Portugal, other reasons for Poland, Slovakia, Morocco, Monaco. Turkey drops out for not agreeing with the rules or some nonsense like that while Czech Republic just isn't interested. Another 24 hours to know the decisions of Greece, Slovenia and maybe Bulgaria. So it seems there will be 35-39 countries in Malmö 2013 instead of 42 in Baku 2012. That may look like a big drop but it's still far from the drop in 1970...
In 1970 only 12 countries took part instead of 16 the year before. Finland, Sweden, Norway, Portugal and Austria protested the rules after four countries ended up sharing the victory in 1969 in Madrid.
Different times, you say. Indeed. But still that was 25% drop to previous year, and transferred to our days that would mean 10-11 countries less than in 2012 to be in the same level and we are still far from that, aren't we? And we must remember in 1971 the number increased to 18, equaling the highest number reached until then. So, we can hope 2013 will be a funny year and in 2014 we are back in business with 40+ countries...
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