Ion Iliescu

Ion Iliescu (Born March 3, 1930) is a retired Romanian politician and former Communist Party member who served as Romania's president from 1990 to 1992, 1992 to 1996 and 2000 to 2004.

Early Life
Iliescu was born in Oltenița, Călărași county on 3 April 1930 to a communist railroad worker father and an unknown mother.

In 1944 he joined the communist youth organization and in 1953 he joined the Communist Party.

Romanian Revolution
During the revolution, Iliescu and the 2nd tier members of the communist party used the chaos to their advantage in order to take power from Ceaușescu.

They took on the name FSN (National Salvation Front) and took over the Securitate, Army and Mass Media.

After the Army sided with the FSN and aided the Revolution, Ceaușescu and his wife fled by helicopter and FSN took over.

Afterwards, they used the television to spread rumors about "terrorists" and called upon the people of Romania and the army to defend key points from them.

The people and the army shot and killed each other thanks to the chaos created by the terrorist rumors which allowed the FSN to consolidate their power.

The FSN knew that letting Ceaușescu and his wife alive will put them in danger, as they will reveal secrets about them to the general public. So the trial was rushed and the Ceaușescu spouses executed.

Presidency
Iliescu and the FSN remained in power as a provisional government with him as acting president until new elections ar held.

They also promise not to get involved in the elections but once the elections begun, FSN organised itself as a political party and participated in the elections.

The people of Romania took to the streets demanding FSN not to participate in the elections and asking for all people who were in power during communism to not be allowed to hold possitions of power now.

Opposition parties also held protests and rallies.

In response to this, Iliescu called upon the workers and miners of Romania to "defend democracy" claiming that the protesters are "Hooligans, Punks and Fascists who want to overthrow democracy".

The workers organised counter manifestations and the miners attacked and devastated the opposition HQs.

Since Romania was a dictatorship not too long ago, many people didn't know how things work in a democracy and Iliescu easely manipulated the people in order to vote for him.

Iliescu and the FSN won the elections but people were still protesting in the street. So Iliescu called upon the miners to attack the protesters resulting in many deaths and injuries.

Iliescu will call the miners once again in 1991 in order to oust Prime Minister Petre Roman.

1992 re-election
In 1992 elections were heald again. Iliescu managed to win a second term.

During this term, Romania had problems with poverty and inflation, many factories were closed off and sold for scrap iron and every protest or strike (which Iliescu called "anarchist movements") was violently put down by the Riot Police.

1996 defeat
Iliescu tried to win a 2nd term in the 1996 elections. But he failed as the Romanians voted for the CDR (Romanian Democratic Convention) an political bloc made up of many opposition parties.

2000 re-election
CDR was a huge letdown for the people of Romania. So in the 2000 elections all the parties that were part of CDR where really low in the polls resulting in the 2nd round being between Iliescu and the leader of the Far right Greater Romania Party, Corneliu Vadim Tudor.

Iliescu won a 3th term because nobody wanted a far right party in power. During his 3th term, the Social Democrat (as his party was called now) oligarchs consolidated their power troughout Romania.

After Presidecy
In the 2004 elections, Iliescu was no longer allowed to run.

Afterwards he retired from political life. Currently he is prosecuted for the people who died at the Revolution and the people killed by the miners.