Survey: 41 pc of Romanians would vote Ceausescu for president

Former communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, ousted in a violent uprising in December 1989 and executed after a makeshift trial immediately afterwards, would be voted by 41 per cent of Romanians if he ran for president against today's candidates and party leaders, a survey whose results were quoted by Agerpres reveals.

The poll, conducted by the Romanian Institute for Evaluation and Strategy (IRES), shows however that a majority of respondents, 52 per cent, would not vote for Ceausescu, while five per cent did not know what to answer and one per cent refused to answer. More than half of respondents, 57 per cent, believe communist parties should not be banned by law, against 30 per cent who would be in favour of such a move, the survey shows. A total of 49 per cent of respondents believe Ceausescu was a good leader, 15 per cent think he was a bad leader and 30 per cent think he was neither good nor bad.

However, while most respondents, 57 per cent, say they do not regret the fall of communism, the exact same number believes life was better before 1989 than it is now.

And more than two thirds of those interviewed (71 per cent) said Ceausescu did not deserve to be executed and that those who sentenced him to death should be held accountable (68 per cent). Over 80 per cent of respondents also voiced the opinion that Ceausescu did not get a fair trial and insisted that if they had been on the trial panel, they would have voted against the dictator's execution. The survey was conducted on July 21-23, interviewing a total of 1,460 people. It has a margin of error of 2.7 per cent.

Nine O'Clock