Romania Front Becomes Party, Widens Regime

The ruling National Salvation Front officially became a political party Thursday and took a major step toward broadening the Romanian government by drawing in representatives of 29 rival parties to join in a provisional council to run the state.

The National Salvation Front, a 140-member body that has governed Romania since Dec. 22, formally dissolved itself as the government. In its place, a 180-member group to be called the Provisional Council of National Unity was formed and will be the highest authority in the country until national elections, now set for May 20, are held.

The move came in response to growing pressure from the 29 newly formed political parties, whose activists were unhappy that the National Salvation Front had decided to participate as a political party in the elections.

The new council of national unity will be formed from 90 members of the front and 90 members who will be representatives of all the parties, including the front. Each of the 30 parties will have three representatives on the body.

The arrangement was worked out in a daylong meeting at the front’s headquarters in the Foreign Ministry, described as a “round-table” negotiation that involved representatives from all the parties.

“The National Salvation Front turns into a political formation with its own structure and platform,” according to a statement issued after the agreement was reached. “(The front) will take part in the elections on equal terms with the other political forces.

“The representatives of the participating political parties and forces urge on this occasion to avoid in the following period manifestations that could lead to tension and violent confrontations,” the statement added.

Attitude an Issue

While the front clearly has broad support with ordinary Romanians, the newly formed political parties have been distressed at what some of them have viewed as a highhanded attitude on the part of the front.

Critics of the National Salvation Front charged, initially, that its leaders had gone back on a pledge to run the country only until elections were held. When the front last week formally announced that it intended to field candidates in the elections, opposition parties argued that it could not fairly compete in elections the front was to oversee. Some critics charged that the front was trying to establish one-party rule in Romania.

The front’s announcement that it was going to be a player in the elections set off two days of demonstrations and counterdemonstrations. In what appeared to be a well-orchestrated show of support, an unruly crowd besieged the headquarters of two leading opposition parties Monday.

In Washington on Tuesday, the State Department accused the front of intimidating the opposition and said that Richard Schifter, the assistant secretary for human rights and humanitarian affairs, was in Bucharest to express U.S. views on the issue.

State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler said: “We are deeply troubled by what appears to be active intimidation of legitimate organizations which are seeking a legitimate, independent role in Romania’s new political order.”

Opposition parties generally seemed pleased by the new arrangement.

“The idea was to break up the monopoly of power by the front,” said Radu Compeanu of the National Liberal Party. “Today the front does not have that monopoly. The situation is less dangerous today than it was yesterday.”

Question on President

It was not immediately clear whether Ion Iliescu, the country’s provisional president, would retain his post after the initial meeting of the Council of National Unity, set for next Friday. Some opposition figures said Iliescu could be elected to the post by the council. In any case, they said, there appeared to be no strong objection to Iliescu’s continuing in the office.

The move is likely to go a long way toward damping down the growing complaints among the opposition groups.

“I think the situation will stabilize considerably now,” one Western European diplomat said. “The front, overall, has done an important and very difficult job. Remember, these people came from nowhere and stepped into a vacuum, and they have held the country together.

“They have made some mistakes,” he added. “But frankly, I think they were mistakes that came from inexperience and a certain disorganization, not from any intent to subvert Romania’s new freedom.”