In a ceremony hosted by Greek host broadcaster ERT in Athens, the running orders for both the semifinal on 18th May and final on 20th May will be drawn laster this afternoon. A third draw will be made to determine the running order of the points presentation during the live broadcast of the final. This draw came necessary for technical reasons to set up satellite links to the participating countries in the voting. You can follow the draw for the running order of the semifinal and the final here at esctoday.com!

For the first time in the contest�s history, the presentation of the points from the televoting during the final will be split. Points from 1 to 7 will only be shown on the live television scoreboard; points 8, 10 and 12 will be announced by spokespersons from each country and will then be added to the scoreboard. The three last countries in the voting will stay to the 'old' way of presenting the points; All points from 1 to 12 will be read aloud by the spokespersons. This procedure was used during the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2005 and helped to streamline the voting procedure.

Due to Serbia & Montenegro's withdrawal, Croatia will directly go to the final. Therefore, in this year's Eurovision Song Contest 23 countries will participate in the semifinal, 24 will take part in the final. 38 countries will participate in the televoting during the final – these are the 37 participating countries plus Serbia & Montenegro.

To follow the draw, click at the link at the front page of esctoday.com, below the news! The draw starts around 15:00 CET and will also be aired live at Greek television.