30 years of democracy: The political powers that ruled Romania after the fall of communism

After many years in which the entire political power was in the hands of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, things started to change in Romania after the Revolution of 1989, which marked the fall of communism in the country. In 1990, many parties joined the political game while historical parties re-entered the scene after having been banned by the communists. Since then, the political power kept changing in Romania, but mostly between the same major parties.

Right after the December 1989 Revolution, Ion Iliescu (picture bellow, center) was the one who took control of the political power in the country, through a new structure called the National Salvation Front (FSN). Iliescu was a former member of the Romanian Communist Party-PCR’s leadership who had fallen out of Nicolae Ceausescu’s grace in the early ‘80s. The National Salvation Front Council (CFSN) was established as the de-facto government, led by Petre Roman (picture below, right).