Most Romanians believe former communist dictator Ceausescu was the best President

Almost a quarter of Romanians consider that former communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu was best suited to the position of President of Romania, according to a recent INSCOP Research survey. The respondents were asked to choose from a list of Romanian Presidents who, in their opinion, best fitted this position. Thus, Nicolae Ceausescu ranked first with 24.7 percent of the responses, followed by Ion Iliescu with 19.1 percent. Traian Basescu, the current President of Romania, ranked third with 14.2 percent, while former president Emil Constantinescu came fourth with just 9.7 percent. Almost 24 percent of the respondents believe none of them was best suited to this position. The non-responses had a share of 8.4 percent. The survey was conducted between July 1 and July 6, on a sample of over 1,000 people, at the request of local Adevarul newspaper. Nicolae Ceausescu was the president of Communist Romania between 1967 and 1989. He was 49 when he came to office, and 71 when he was executed. His regime collapsed in 1989, when the couple tried to escape by helicopter. They were however captured by army forces and kept in the Targoviste military unit. They were tried and convicted to death for mass murder after a two-hour court session. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com