The European Broadcasting Union has confirmed that Kazakhstan would not be eligible to host the 2020 Junior Eurovision Song Contest.
The EBU has confirmed to Eurofestivales that despite interest from Khabar Agency, Kazakhstan would not be eligible to host the next edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. The EBU stated that only full members are eligible to host the competition, with Khabar Agency currently only an associate member.
Kazakhstan was represented by Yerzhan Maksim with the song “Armanyńnan qalma”, which scored a total of 227 points. Kazakhstan won the jury vote scoring 148 points, but was 5th with the online vote scoring 79 points.
Kazakhstan previously spoke of an interest in hosting the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in the run up to Junior Eurovision 2018. At the time the Kazakh delegation stated that the date that the contest takes place would have to be brought forward to October. This was due to the weather conditions in Nursultan being more favourable to being outside in October than the end of November.
Currently Poland who won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019, has stated that they will bid to host next years contest. However the Head of TVP Jacek Kurski, has hinted that the European Broadcasting Union may not support a Polish bid to host for a second year running. RTVE the Spanish national broadcaster has also stated that it will not be bidding, following its third place finish in Gliwice, Poland.
Source: Eurofestivales
Please let me know when the EBU announces next year’s Junior Eurovision host country. 😉