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Changes in the voting procedure were made with the re-introduction of a national jury alongside televoting while the format of the semi-finals remained the same. Forty-two countries participated in the contest; Slovakia announced that it would return to the contest, while San Marino withdrew due to financial issues. Latvia and Georgia originally announced their intention to withdraw, but it was later stated by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) that both countries would indeed participate.[2] However, Georgia later decided to withdraw after the EBU rejected its selected song as being a breach of contest rules. The contest was won by Norway's Alexander Rybak and his song "Fairytale" which received a record breaking 387 points, the highest total score in Eurovision history. Not only that, Norway's winning margin is 169 points, the largest ever winning margin in the history of Eurovision and received the most possible countries assigned points to Norway at 41. Changes in the voting procedure were made with the re-introduction of a national jury alongside televoting while the format of the semi-finals remained the same. Forty-two countries participated in the contest; Slovakia announced that it would return to the contest, while San Marino withdrew due to financial issues. Latvia and Georgia originally announced their intention to withdraw, but it was later stated by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) that both countries would indeed participate.[2] However, Georgia later decided to withdraw after the EBU rejected its selected song as being a breach of contest rules. The contest was won by Norway's Alexander Rybak and his song "Fairytale" which received a record breaking 387 points, the highest total score in Eurovision history. Not only that, Norway's winning margin is 169 points, the largest ever winning margin in the history of Eurovision and received the most possible countries assigned points to Norway at 41.