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On December 22, Ceausescu had his apparatus gathered a crowd in Bucharest, intending an evocation of the 1968 demonstration of support for his stand against Soviet invasion of Prague. Instead, the crowd turned angry and street fighting broke out. Confused street fightind in Romania in those weeks killed about 1,000 people. Ion Iliescu took over as president December 22 and emerged as the leader of the uprising. Ceausescu was arrested in Tārgoviste, and after a trial by a kangaroo court, he and his wife were executed December 25. An impromptu governing coalition, the National Salvation Front (FSN), installed itself and proclaimed the restoration of democracy and freedom. The Communist Party was outlawed, and Ceausescu's most unpopular measures, such as bans on abortion and contraception, were repealed. (See Romanian Revolution of 1989.)
Presidential and parliamentary elections were held on May 20, 1990. Running against representatives of the pre-war National Peasants' PartyThe National Peasants' Party was a political party in Romania, formed in 1926 by the fusion of the National Romanian Party from Transylvania and the Peasants' Party. It was in power with some interruptions between 1928 and 1933. A moderately conservative and National Liberal PartyThe National Liberal Party may be: National Liberal Party (Bermuda) a Bermudian party National Liberal Party (Germany) a former German party National Liberal Party (Lebanon) a Lebanese party National Liberal Party (Panama) a Panamanian party National Libe, Iliescu won 85% of the vote. The NSF captured two-thirds of the seats in Parliament, named a university professor, Petre RomanPetre Roman (born July 22, 1946) is a Romanian politician and he was the Prime Minister of Romania between 1989 and 1991, the President of the Senate between 1996 and 1999 and Minister of Foreign Affairs between 1999 and 2000. He is now a senator and lead, as Prime Minister, and began cautious free marketA free market economy is an idealized form of market economy in which buyers and sellers are permitted to carry out transactions based solely on mutual agreement without interventionism in the form of taxes, subsidies, regulation, or government provision reforms.
The new government made a crucial early misstep. Unhappy at the continued political and economic influence of members of the Ceausescu-era elite, anti-communist protesters camped in University Square in April 1990. When miners from the Jiu Valley descended on Bucharest, an incident known as the mineriadThe mineriads were a part of Romanian history that created anarchy and instability for most of the years after the Revolution of 1989. The mineriads happened when large groups of miners, mostly from Jiu Valley, went to Bucharest to help repress demonstrat, two months later and brutally dispersed the remaining "hooligans," President Iliescu expressed public thanks, thus convincing many that the government had sponsored the miners' actions. The miners also attacked the headquarters and houses of opposition leaders. The Roman government fell in late September 1991, when the miners returned to Bucharest to demand higher salaries and better living conditions. A technocrat, Theodor StolojanTheodor Dumitru Stolojan (born October 24, 1943) is a Romanian economist and politician. He was the interim Prime minister of Romania from September 1991 to November 1992. He worked for the World Bank, then for a Romanian private company. In 2000 he re-en, was appointed to head an interim government until new elections could be held.
Parliament drafted a new democratic constitution, approved by popular referendum in December 1991. The FSN split into two groups, led by Ion Iliescu (FDSN) and Petre Roman (FSN) in March 1992; Roman's party subsequently adopted the name Democrat Party (PD). National elections in September 1992 returned President Iliescu by a clear majority, and gave his party, the FDSN, a plurality. With parliamentary support from the nationalist PUNR and PRM parties, and the ex-communist PSM party, a technocratic government was formed in November 1992 under Prime Minister Nicolae VacaroiuNicolae Vacaroiu (born on December 5, 1943 in Bolgrad, Bessarabia, now in Ukraine) was the Prime Minister of Romania from 1992 to 1996. Currently, he is the President of the Romanian Senate. Vacaroiu, Nicolae Vacaroiu, Nicolae., an economist. The FDSN became the Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR) in July 1993. The Vacaroiu government ruled in coalition with three smaller parties, all of which abandoned the coalition by the time of the November 1996 elections.