Kross-European Song Contest of 1956

This was the 31st edition of the contest and was held in May 1956. Kross Company again collaborated with RECORDZA and EmbeX for the edition of the contest. The contest was to be hosted in the 2nd week of May like the 1950, 1952, 1954 contests with semi finals on the Wednesday and Thursday and the final on the Saturday. This meant the first semi final would be held on 9th May 1956, the second semi final on the 10th May 1956 and the Grand Final on 12th May 1956. Due to Marie Francis' departure, Kiana Rätz from Switzerland stepped in (previous being Assistant Director from 1951 until now)

Hosting
Because Albania won the previous edition, hosting rights were given to them. Maybe were concerned they would not be interested in the contest due to soviet influence but the contest was hosted there none the less.

Participants
There were 35 participants in the contest. The following countries used a national selection: The following countries used an internal selection:
 * Andorra.png Andorra
 * AlbaniaOld.png Albania
 * Austria.png Austria
 * Bulgaria.png Bulgaria
 * Cyprus.png Cyprus
 * Finland.png Finland
 * EastGermany.png East Germany
 * Iceland.png Iceland
 * Israel.png Israel
 * Liechtenstein.png Liechtenstein
 * Luxembourg.PNG Luxembourg
 * Malta.png Malta
 * Monaco.png Monaco
 * Poland.png Poland
 * Portugal.png Portugal
 * Romania.png Romania
 * SanMarino.png San Marino
 * Turkey.png Turkey
 * Wales.png Wales
 * Yugoslavia.png Yugoslavia

Semi Final Grouping
The automatic qualifiers for this contest would be the regular big five. This means there would be 30 countries in the Semi Finals split into 15 in the first and 15 in the second. 8 would qualify from each making a final of 21 countries. Each pot would have 5 countries.

Semi Final 1
The qualifying countries from the first semi final are:
 * Netherlands.png Netherlands (automatic qualifier)
 * France.png France (automatic qualifier)
 * Denmark.png Denmark (1st place with 237 points)
 * Germany.png Germany (2nd place with 208 points)
 * Czech Republic.png Czechia (3rd place with 207 points)
 * Bulgaria.png Bulgaria (4th place with 191 points)
 * Sweden.png Sweden (5th place with 158 points)
 * Turkey.png Turkey (6th place with 142 points)
 * Austria.png Austria (7th place with 135 points)
 * Cyprus.png Cyprus (8th place with 119 points)

Semi Final 2
ookmaker's BredictionsP

f The qualifying countries from the second semi final are:
 * Italy.png Italy (automatic qualifier)
 * Switzerland.png Switzerland (automatic qualifier)
 * UK.png United Kingdom (automatic qualifier)
 * Belgium.png Belgium (1st place with 272 points)
 * Norway.png Norway (2nd place with 253 points)
 * Hungary.png Hungary (3rd place with 242 points)
 * EastGermany.png East Germany (4th place with 195 points)
 * Wales.png Wales (5th place with 191 points)
 * GreeceOld.png Greece (6th place with 190 points)
 * Portugal.png Portugal (7th place with 167 points)
 * Malta.png Malta (8th place with 151 points)

Grand Final
The first table will include votes from all participating countries (all 21) The second table will include all non-participating countries in the final (13) along with the televote and any left over participating countries that didn't fit on the first table. Simplified Leaderboard including the Semi Finals.