Switzerland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1988 with the song "", composed by Atilla Şereftuğ, with lyrics by Nella Martinetti, and performed by Céline Dion. The Swiss participating broadcaster, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR), selected its entry through a national final. The entry went on to win the Eurovision Song Contest.

Before Eurovision Regional selections The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) held a national final to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1988. Each division of SRG SSR — Swiss German and Romansh broadcaster (SF DRS), Swiss French broadcaster (TSR), and Swiss Italian broadcaster (TSI) — used its own method to select its entries for the final. Eligible songs were required to have been composed by songwriters from Switzerland or Liechtenstein.

It is unknown how the regional broadcasters selected their songs, but 181 total songs were submitted (with 28 being invalid), of which ten were selected: three in French, German, and Italian, and one in Romansh. Among the rejected artists in the TSR preselection were Alain Morisod and Arlette Zola, the latter of whom represented .

'88 TSR staged the national final on 6 February 1988 at 20:40 (CET) at the in Morges. It was hosted by . The national final was broadcast on TV DRS (with commentary by Beat Antenen; also in Romansh commentary by on TSR), TSR, and TSI (via TSR, with commentary by Giovanni Bertini). Popular theater troupe Mummenschanz made a guest appearance.

Ten songs were initially set to compete in the national final, with three songs in French, German, and Italian, and one in Romansh. Among the participants was Furbaz, who would later represent . "Smile" by Yama, who was initially drawn to be the first song to perform, was later withdrawn by the composer due to the artist not meeting the age requirement and being less than 17 years old.

+Participating entriesBroadcasterArtist(s)SongSongwriter(s)Language Composer LyricistRTSI Renato Mascetti "" Renato Mascetti Italian Cocktail Band "" Andreas Messerli Beat Gfeller Yama "Smile" Daniele ChristenSF DRS Hertz "" Max Walter German Bernadette "" Manuela Felice "" Enrico Peyer Erica Brunelli Furbaz "" Marie-Louise Werth RomanshTSR Isabelle Alba "" Eric Weber Pierre Alain French Gemo "" Marco Schiess Céline Dion "" Atilla Şereftuğ Nella Martinetti

The voting consisted of regional public votes from 50 individuals each which were sent to the three divisions of SRG SSR (SF DRS, TSR, TSI: German-Romansh, French, and Italian speaking, respectively), a press jury, and a 14-member expert jury. The winner was the song "", composed by Atilla Şereftuğ, with lyrics by Nella Martinetti, and performed by Céline Dion.

+Participating entries Artist(s) Song Regional Juries PressJury ExpertJury Total Place DRS TSR TSI 1Hertz""41135147 2Isabelle Alba""13243138 3Renato Mascetti""641087353 4Bernadette""58362245 5Furbaz""776710372 6Cocktail Band""86754304 7Gemo""35528236 8Manuela Felice""22411109 9Céline Dion""10108106441

At Eurovision

At the Eurovision Song Contest 1988, held at the RDS Simmonscourt Pavilion in Dublin, the Swiss entry was the ninth entry of the night following and preceding . The Swiss conductor at the contest was Atilla Şereftuğ, who composed the song and the , in which he also conducted. At the close of voting, Switzerland had received 137 points in total; and won the contest by a single point ahead of the .

This is the second of three instances where Switzerland won the Eurovision Song Contest, with their first victory being in the with "" by Lys Assia and in with "The Code" by Nemo.

Voting Each participating broadcaster assembled a jury panel with at least eleven members. The jurors awarded 1-8, 10, and 12 points to their top ten songs.

+ Points awarded to Switzerland Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

+ Points awarded by Switzerland Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest

In 2005, "" was one of fourteen songs chosen by Eurovision fans and an EBU reference group to participate in the Congratulations anniversary competition. It was the only Swiss entry featured, although several Swiss entries were featured in clip montages and Lys Assia, who won the first-ever contest on behalf of Switzerland, made an appearance performing her winning entry "Refrain." The special was broadcast live on all three major Swiss public broadcasters, with 1991 Swiss entrant Sandra Studer commentating in German, Serge Moisson commentating in French, and Sandy Altermatt commentating in Italian.

"Ne partez pas sans moi" appeared eleventh in the running order, following "Everyway That I Can" by Sertab Erener and preceding "Hold Me Now" by Johnny Logan. Like the majority of entries that night, the performance was mostly by a group of dancers alongside footage of Dion's Eurovision performance, as Dion did not make an in-person appearance. At the end of the first round, "Ne partez pas sans moi" was not one of the five entries announced as proceeding to the second round. It was later revealed that the song finished tenth with 98 points.

Voting + Points awarded to "Ne partez pas sans moi" (Round 1) Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

References