Twenty-one countries took part , after an initial plan of twenty-two , as Cyprus withdrew from the contest after it had already submitted an entry . Cypriot broadcaster CyBC had selected the song ' Thimame ' sung by Yiannis Dimitrou , and at a late stage saw that the song was ineligible to represent them as it had been entered into the Cypriot selection for the 1984 Contest , where it had finished in 3rd place . This was classed as a breach of the Cypriot rules of selecting their entry at this time as well as an infringement of the Eurovision Song Contest rules . It was a very late decision as the song was already drawn to perform second in the contest , advertised in the Radio Times information about the preview programme of the contest , and appears as song number two in accordance to its initial performance draw , on the record release “ Melodi Grand Prix 1988 ” – the compilation disc of the contest ’s entries
1984 Contest
Eurovision Song Contest 1984
Eurovision Song Contest 1988