In the late 1980s, the landscape began to change. As Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev implemented reformist policies, Ceaușescu attempted to prevent any spread of influence. He had become a relic of the Stalinist era, and Romanians grew tired of the excessive cult of personality around him and his wife. As his regime became more erratic, many in the bureaucracy saw Iliescu as a potential alternative to “dynastic Communism.”
In December 1989, popular uprisings emerged across the nation, beginning in the western city of Timișoara and later spreading to Bucharest. This was not a velvet revolution. During a military crackdown, the army and secret police forces shot dozens of anti-regime protesters in the following days. On December 22, Iliescu spoke to the crowds on television, announcing the formation of the National Salvation Front.
After the Ceaușescus were captured, tried, and executed a few days later, Romanians believed this marked the start of a democratic revolution. In reality, it was a mix of a spontaneous popular revolt and an internal party coup—Iliescu benefited from both.
Iliescu initially presented himself as a benevolent, open-minded reformer. Yet, he ensured that merging pluralist forces, including democratic parties and civil society associations, wouldn’t be able to challenge the bureaucracy’s power. His reaction to the anticommunist opposition was neurotic, panicky, and intolerant.
In June 1990, after his party secured victory in the nation’s first democratic elections, he used unlawful forces to quell growing dissent by mobilizing Jiu Valley coal miners to violently suppress anti-government demonstrations. Romania once again faced international isolation. While Iliescu attempted to erase the memories of those terrible events—both the tumultuous chaos of Ceaușescu’s ousting and the brutal crackdown on civilians that followed—they would leave a lasting mark on his career.
After losing the presidency in 1995, Iliescu accepted democratic governance and assumed leadership of the parliamentary opposition. He was re-elected in 2000, with his second presidential term largely viewed as focused on Western integration. In 2003, Romania joined NATO, and he played a significant role in the country’s EU accession, completed in 2007.
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