Parliamentary elections were held in Romania on 17 March 1985.Nohlen & Stöver, p. 1591 The Front of Socialist Unity and Democracy (FDUS), dominated by the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) and including other mass organisations, was the only group to contest the elections, and no prospective candidate could run for office without the Front's approval. Consequently, FDUS candidates won all 369 seats in the Great National Assembly, also ensuring the rubber-stamp confirmation of Nicolae Ceaușescu as President of Romania. The Assembly which elected him included several members of the Ceaușescu family, namely his wife Elena, son Nicu, and brother Ilie. Continuity was also ensured by other incumbents, including Nicolae Giosan as Assembly chairman and Constantin Dăscălescu as Prime Minister.
These elections also widened the contrast between Romania and other countries of the Eastern Bloc, since the Soviet Union embraced liberalisation during the same year. Ceaușescu was by then widely unpopular due to his policy of cutting down on consumer supplies, which served his project of repaying the foreign debt. Popular discontent was contrasted by a massive PCR recruitment drive, as well as by the official approval of gender equality, which saw 30% of Assembly seats going to women. The communists' full hold on power was contested by an underground National Peasants' Party (PNȚ), with Ion Puiu trying and failing to present himself as an opposition candidate. Protests by Romanian dissidents continued over the subsequent Assembly term, reaching an early peak with the Brașov rebellion of 1987.
The 1985 parliament was the last single-party one to be held nationally in Romania. The 1985 vote was followed by an early election for the Assembly seats of Tulcea County in 1987, which produced more signals of a coming unrest. The elected parliament never completed its five-year term, as the Communist Party (PCR) was finally defeated and dissolved during the Romanian Revolution of 1989. The presidential couple was tried and executed during the events, while some members of the parliament and cabinet were singled out for their crimes and all spent time in prison, where Giosan died. Other former Assembly members were recovered in post-1989 politics, including Ilie Verdeț, who established a Socialist Party of Labour (PSM).
Background The election took place during the regime's effort to conceal its non-democratic nature by a massive recruitment into the PCR. As summarised by journalist Alexander Clapp: "The fusion of party and state came to resemble the substitution of the state by the party, which expanded beyond all proportion: by 1985 its membership was approaching some four million—one in four adults, one in three working Romanians, the largest political party per population in the world."Alexander Clapp, "Romania Redivivus", in New Left Review, Issue 108, November–December 2017 The PCR also officially endorsed a drive for more gender equality, which increased the proportion of female party members to 23%. Women were also 35% of successful candidates in 1985.Gârboni, p. 248
Such gender quotas are dismissed by researchers as a facade. Historian Zoe Petre links them to national communism and to "Ceaușescu's personal phantasms", wherein "quantitative quotas of 'female comrades' were imposed on all party and state organs." In practice, they were assigned mainly to "propaganda work", and as such preserved stereotypes about "chatty women".Zoe Petre, "Promovarea femeii sau destructurarea sexului feminin", in Lucian Boia (ed.), Miturile comunismului românesc, pp. 268–269. Bucharest: Editura Nemira, 1998. Similarly, political scientist Ionela Băluță finds that, among this class of female communists, "real power" could be exercised only by Elena Ceaușescu, the president's wife, and by a few other members of the Ceaușescu family. Overall, "the high percentages of women in other political structures are not indicative of their participation in decision making."Ionela Băluță, "(Re)Constructing Democracy without Women: Gender and Politics in Postcommunist Romania", in Clio. Women, Gender, History, Vol. 41, Issue 1, 2015 (digitised by Cairn.info) According to political sociologist Emanuela Simona Gârboni, all political decisions rested with PCR males. "Encouraged and sometimes even coerced", women candidates were often unsuited for the task, meaning that "women politicians were seen as the symbol of an aggressively pursued communist propaganda."Gârboni, pp. 248–249
Within the communist system, the FDUS was an organism tasked with vetting all candidacies; it was chaired by Ceaușescu, who was both national president and PCR general secretary.Electoral System, in Romania: A Country Study; Federal Research Division, December 1989 Under the 1965 Constitution which established a socialist republic, electoral freedoms were nominally ensured, but "the right to nominate candidates belonged to the PCR, as well as to all labor unions, cooperatives, youth and women's leagues, cultural associations, and other mass organisations." As surmised by sociologist Mircea Kivu, the leaders of the main religious organisations were also included on the ballot, being automatically awarded parliamentary seats. Created on this basis, the FDUS, described by Kivu as "something like an enlarged Communist Party", also nominated the Central Electoral Commission Mircea Kivu, "Amintiri electorale", in România Liberă, 31 March 2015 and counted the votes.Radu, p. 6
Candidates were elected in single-member constituencies, and had to receive over 50% of the vote. If no candidate passed this threshold, or if voter turnout in the constituency was less than 50%, re-runs were held until the requirements were met.Nohlen & Stöver, p. 1583; Radu, p. 6 Under "internal democracy" laws passed in 1972–1974,Radu, pp. 5–6 several candidates could compete over one seat, though some precincts still presented only one candidate. The most common formula involved two FDUS candidates running against each other. Participants only had the option of voting against all or any of the candidates. This was done by crossing out the name of the candidate, or any of the names on a closed list; crossing out all names was an effective blank ballot. By contrast, leaving all names intact was interpreted as an approval of all candidates, and as such a valid vote. As argued by Kivu, the expectation from a committed communist voter was that they never enter the voting booth, but submit a ballot upon receiving it; the same author notes that, while members of the commission were "somewhat suspicious" of those who did enter the booth, these were never reprimanded. The more common form of protest from those who took the risk was writing in slogans or obscenities. According to Kivu, the counting of ballots in the preceding election of 1980 mostly meant separating valid, blank, and defaced ballots.
1985 marked a slump in the regime national and international prestige. It inaugurated massive cuts in consumer supply and saw Ceaușescu's positioning as an anti-Soviet asset threatened by the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev.Cioroianu, pp. 85, 410, 476 Constantin Dăscălescu had replaced Ilie Verdeț as Prime Minister in May 1982 (and continued to head the PCR cabinet to 1989). This change of course was ordered by Ceaușescu, reportedly because Verdeț had sought to prevent the rationing of bread, or more generally because he would not immediately enforce the president's various commands. Laurențiu Ungureanu, Radu Eremia, "Apostolii Epocii de Aur, episodul #15. Constantin Dăscălescu, premierul pe care Revoluția l-a prins la WC", in Adevărul, 2 April 2016 Dăscălescu's loyalty was tested in 1983, when, like Ceaușescu himself, he refused to recognize that design flaws at Teleajen Refinery had caused the death of 28 employees. Meanwhile, his civilian ministries were being kept in check by Romania's intelligence agency, the Securitate, which, in 1984, demoted a head of the Religious Affairs Department, Ion Roșianu, who was allegedly trafficking in influence.Adrian Nicolae Petcu, "Activitatea Departamentului Cultelor în atenția Securității (1970-1989)", in Caietele CNSAS, Vol. II, Issue 2, 2009, pp. 97–100
The communist status quo was being challenged by underground opposition forces, some of whom were grouped into the National Peasants' Party (PNȚ). Engineer Ion Puiu "issued a comprehensive political platform" for the PNȚ, calling on the PCR to respect constitutional guarantees and renounce its position as the vanguard party.Ramet, pp. 147–148 He then attempted to present himself as a candidate in the election, which led to his arrest by authorities.Adela Șerban, "Controversial Issues Regarding Resistance and Dissidence in Romania (1945–1989)", in Romanian Journal of Sociology, Issues 1–2, 2009, p. 120 Other figures associated with the group had been placed under constant Securitate surveillance. In April 1985, Securitate informant Iosif Constantin Drăgan reported that Corneliu Coposu viewed the election as "masterminded and falsified", noting that FDUS candidates in Sălaj County had received only positive votes.Zarojanu, p. 122 Werner Somerauer, a Saxon photographer and pipefitter, also protested the election in Brașov County by stealing ballots which he preserved as "historical documents". This involved stuffing an urn with papers marked: Dați-ne mai multă carne! ("Let us have more meat!"). Sebastian Dan, "Werner Sommerauer, sasul torturat de comuniști și care a învins Securitatea lui Ceaușescu: 'Pentru ce m-am sacrificat? Ca să fie bine în România, nu ca să plec'", in Adevărul (Brașov edition), 8 April 2015
Results
Individual seats A list of all elected deputies was announced on 1 April. Hotărârea nr. 2/1985 cu privire la validarea alegerii deputaților aleși in Marea Adunare Națională la 17 martie 1985, at Indaco Lege 5 Among the reconfirmed deputies was Nicolae Ceaușescu himself: he began his last term for 23 August, a Bucharest borough, where he had served since 1969.Dobre et al., p. 142 This category also includes his wife Elena, who began her third-consecutive (and last) term representing Pitești.Dobre et al., p. 139 Denis Grigorescu, "Cum a ajuns Elena Ceaușescu deputat de Pitești. 'Savanta de renume mondial' a ocupat funcția publică timp de 14 ani", in Adevărul (Pitești edition), 3 February 2018 Her and Nicolae's son, Nicu Ceaușescu, was reelected for the first and final time in Râmnicu Sărat. Upon reelection, he renounced his position as Assembly secretary.Dobre et al., p. 143 Agronomist Nicolae Giosan was the Assembly chairman, having served continuously in that post since July 1974.Dobre et al., p. 298 Mariana Iancu, "Protestul subversiv al românilor la votul din 1987, în plină dictatură comunistă: 'Trădătorul care-a-nfometat poporul și-a pus neamurile-n funcții-cheie'", in Adevărul (Constanța edition), 12 December 2016 According to novelist and fellow deputy Dumitru Popescu-Dumnezeu, Giosan owed his political career to Ceaușescu, who "landed him at the Great National Assembly rostrum".Lavinia Betea, "Nicolae Giosan, președintele fostei MAN, a decedat la Jilava", in Jurnalul Național, 9 August 2010
Some party dignitaries also served renewed terms, but switched constituencies. Chairman Giosan had served in the 1980 parliament as the envoy for Căzănești, but was now sent to the Assembly by the voters of Adjud. Dăscălescu moved his constituency between two neighborhoods of Brașov, while his rival Verdeț, who only returned to a ministerial position in October 1985, lost his seat at Cluj-Napoca and became instead deputy for Bacău County.Dobre et al., pp. 203, 615 Tudor Postelnicu, who was leader of the Securitate, was reconfirmed as deputy in Videle, having previously held a seat at Băicoi.Dobre et al., p. 487