Romania breaks communist bonds
The Times, AFP
December 15, 2004
ROMANIANS have turned their backs on the nation's communist past with the unexpected election of reformist Bucharest mayor Traian Basescu as president.
The former sea captain, who promised to fight corruption and lead Romania into the European Union in 2007, won 51.23 per cent of the vote in a run-off poll against Prime Minister Adrian Nastase.
He will succeed Ion Iliescu, the veteran former communist leader whose Social Democratic Party had dominated the political scene since the bloody 1989 revolution that toppled Nicolae Ceausescu.
Mr Basescu's supporters flocked to the centre of Bucharest yesterday, many of them waving orange flags in scenes reminiscent of Ukraine's "orange revolution".
Conceding defeat, Mr Nastase said: "It is the decision of the Romanian people and I respect it. I have congratulated Basescu on the telephone today. Basescu is the future president of Romania."
Mr Basescu had alleged fraud after losing the first round to Mr Nastase on November 28, raising the spectre of a Ukrainian-type wrangle in the former communist nation.
But Mr Basescu's victory in Sunday's run-off defied opinion polls, which had predicted a clear win for Mr Nastase. The outcome will be widely welcomed in the West.
EU leaders will this week decide at a summit in Brussels whether to close accession talks with the Balkan nation of 23 million, and allow it to join in January 2007, a prospect more likely with Mr Basescu in power.
The Social Democratic Party, the successor to the Communist Party, held power for 11 of the 15 years since the 1989 revolution. Its rule was marked by corruption as the ruling elite regarded the public purse as a means of enriching themselves and their supporters. Dan Visoiu, of the Romania Think-Tank, which campaigns for transparency and the rule of law, said: "Basescu's victory finally breaks Romania's bond to its communist past. The people who have been running Romania for most of the past 15 years no longer have any significant decision-making powers."
The shadow of the Ceausescu dictatorship was finally lifted, he added. "A younger generation, one much less influenced by communism, will be running the country for the next five years. Practically, we can now say, 15 years after the 1989 revolution, that communism is finally dead."
Mr Basescu now faces the difficult task of constructing a viable coalition government. He will almost certainly ask his own centre-right Justice and Truth Alliance to nominate a cabinet, which needs to be approved by parliament. However, Mr Nastase's Social Democrats won 189 of 469 seats in the parliamentary elections earlier this month, while the Alliance won 161.
Mr Basescu said he would propose his running mate Calin Tariceanu, of the National Liberal Party, for prime minister. As mayor, Mr Basescu defied French actor and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot over his plans to cull thousands of stray dogs that roamed the city.
"I am elected by the people of Bucharest, not the dogs," he declared. The cull went ahead and Bucharest's 2.3 million inhabitants could again walk freely in the parks and streets.
As president, he will face more dangerous adversaries: the embittered apparatchiks of the former ruling Social Democrats who are soon to be deprived of their positions and access to the public purse.
The Times, AFP
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