Belgium was represented by

Reynaert Reynaert (born Joseph Reynaerts; 24 July 1955 – 5 November 2020) was a Belgian singer-songwriter, best known for his participation in the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest. Early career Reynaert was born in Seraing, and started busking at the age o ...

, with the song "Laissez briller le soleil", at the

1988 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1988 was the 33rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Dublin, Ireland, following Johnny Logan's win at the with the song " Hold Me Now". Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (E ...

, which took place in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

on 30 April. Reynaert was the winner of the Belgian national final for the contest, held in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

on 27 February.

Before Eurovision

Eurosong '88

French-language broadcaster

RTBF The ''Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française'' (RTBF, ''Belgian Radio-television of the French Community'', branded as rtbf.be) is a public service broadcaster delivering radio and television services to the French-speaking Commu ...

was in charge of the selection of the Belgian entry for the 1988 Contest. The national final was held at the RTBF studios, hosted by Patrick Duhamel. The winner was chosen by an expert jury and a public jury. The full results of the voting were not made public, and only the winning song was announced.

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Reynaert performed 16th in the running order, following

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and preceding

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

. At the close of the voting "Laissez briller le soleil" had received 5 points, placing Belgium joint 18th (with

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

) of the 21 entries. The Belgian jury awarded its 12 points to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Voting

References

External links

Belgian Preselection 1988
{{Eurovision Song Contest 1988

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1988

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...