NID: ROMANIA: FRONT REBUFFS OPPOSITION CHALLENGE

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe: A 30-Year Legacy
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06826860
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 26, 2019
• Document Release Date: December 10, 2019
• Publication Date: January 29, 1990

Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826860
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ROMANIA: Front Rebuffs Opposition Challenge
The ruling National Salration Front (FSN) has used its organizational
muscle to survive its first direct challenge by opposition parties, but it
now must also contend with potentially violent ethnic tensions in
Transylvania.
The Front faced another wave of unrest over the weekend despite
its attempt to distract the public's attention by broadcasting the
opening of the trial of Ceausescu's senior associates. More than
15.000 anti-FSN protesters yesterday defied a government ban on
demonstrations, broke through a military cordon around the Front's
headquarters in Bucharest, and demanded a new coalition
government. The protesters apparently retreated after the Front
brought in truckloads of progovernment demonstrators.
Acting President II iescu is trying to calm the situation by inviting the
21 newly registered opposition parties to an "open dialogue" to begin
Thursday. Nonetheless, at least one of the major parties�the
National Peasants' Party�has threatened daily demonstrations until
another. more broadly based interim governmeniisiorme to rule
the country pending the election on 20 May.
Meanwhile, the FSN's authority is being further undermined by
mounting ethnic tensions in Transylvania, homeland of Romania's
approximately 2 million ethnic Hungarians. The deputy education
minister, an ethnic Hungarian, was fired Saturday for making
unauthorized decisions on Hungarian-language instruction. His
ouster follows public criticism of Ilieseu�by the Hungarian
Democratic Forum, the minority's largest organization--for having
raised the specter of Hungarian separatism.
Comment: The Front managed to turn back protesters over the
weekend, but its use of orchestrated counterdemonstrations�
reminiscent of the Ceausescu era�to intimidate the opposition is
likely to fuel growing suspicions that the Front is dominated by
crypto-Communists. More political unrest is likely as the opposition
parties and radical students regroup. The Front may exploit ethnic
tensions to give itself some breathing room, even at the cost of
undermining its ethnic Hungarian support
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T C P2723/90
29 January 1990
Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826860