Dora 2026: Televote in the Semis, Juries in the Finale
Croatia has looked at the national final calendar, taken a long sip of something strong, and decided that Dora 2026 should be less “song contest” and more “three-night trust exercise where nobody trusts anyone”. Next week, we’re getting two semi-finals on 12 and 13 February, and then the grand final on Sunday 15 February (live from HRT’s studios in Zagreb), and the format is doing that very Eurovision thing where it smiles politely while quietly rearranging the balance of power behind your back.
The semis: the public gets the wheel (and no seatbelt)
On paper, it sounds almost wholesome: in the semi-finals, it’s televote only. No juries, no panels, no “music professionals” trying to explain why your favourite is “a bit much”. Just viewers voting via SMS and calls, which is exactly as peaceful and sensible as it sounds when you remember that fandoms treat a semi-final like a referendum on their personality.
And yes, it’s a thrill, because it means momentum matters, running order matters, and that first burst of “oh, this one is going viral in the group chats” can actually carry somebody into the final without anyone in a blazer intervening.
The final: half televote, half jury… and the jury is the whole story
Then comes the part where Dora stops flirting and starts making eye contact. In the final, the result is 50% public, 50% jury, but “the jury” this year isn’t one neat committee. It’s an eight-headed creature, and it’s honestly the most interesting thing HRT has done to this show in a while.
You’ve got four Croatian jury panels based in Zagreb, Osijek, Rijeka and Split, and then four international juriesfrom San Marino, the United Kingdom, Norway and Luxembourg, each panel made up of three members (the classic recipe: a composer, a producer, a critic, and at least one person who says “we must think about staging” like it’s a moral obligation).
What that creates, in real terms, is a final where the televote can arrive with a clear favourite and still find itself negotiating with eight different tastes, eight different “what should Croatia send to Vienna?” philosophies, and eight different interpretations of the word quality. It doesn’t mean the juries will “steal” it, but it does mean the final can flip fast if a couple of panels lock onto the same act, because those jury points don’t drift, they land.
And yes, the hosts are locked in
Guiding us through this very polite chaos: Barbara Kolar and Duško Ćurlić, plus Iva Šulentić and Ivan Vukušić. In other words, experienced hands on deck, because somebody has to keep a straight face while half the country accuses the other half of voting incorrectly.
Semi-Final 1 running order (12 February)
- Lima Len – Raketa
- Jasmina Makota – Higher
- Ananda – DORA
- Tony Sky – O ne!
- Fran Uccellini – Ako bolje bude sutra
- Ema Bubić – Vrijeme za nas
- Noelle – Uninterrupted
- Alen Đuras – From Ashes To Flame
- Fenksta – Momento Mori
- Cold Snap – MUCHO MACHO
- ToMa – Ledina
- LELEK – Andromeda
Semi-Final 2 running order (13 February)
- Ritam Noir – Profumi di mare
- Irma – Ni traga
- Gabrijel Ivić – Light Up
- ZEVIN – My Mind
- Ivan Sever – Crying Eyes
- Lana Mandarić – Tama
- Stela Rade – Nema te
- DEVIN – OVER ME
- Kandžija – 3 ujutro
- Marko Kutlić – Neotuđivo
- Sergej – Scream
- Lara Demarin – MANTRA
Dora’s “jury map” is the real suspense
The clever part of this setup is psychological: the semis make you feel powerful, because you are, and then the final reminds you that Eurovision season is always a duet between the public mood and professional taste, and sometimes those two are barely on speaking terms. With UK, Norway, Luxembourg and San Marino in the mix, Dora isn’t just picking a winner, it’s testing which kind of “Eurovision-ready” Croatia wants to be this year: bold, polished, weird, radio-friendly, or something that makes absolutely no sense until it suddenly makes perfect sense on the Eurovision stage.
Either way, if your plan was to watch Dora calmly, maybe take up a quieter hobby, like juggling knives.
Source: HRT
