
Ion Iliescu: Romania's first democratic leader with a divisive legacy
His three terms saw the tumultuous birth of modern Romania as it moved from communism to democracy.
BBC News
Ion Iliescu was a Romanian politician and engineer who served as the first and the third President of Romania since the country's transition to democracy. He occupied the office from 1990 until 1996 and again from 2000 until 2004. Iliescu was a senator for the Social Democratic Party (PSD), of which he was the founder and honorary president for the rest of his life.
His three terms saw the tumultuous birth of modern Romania as it moved from communism to democracy.
He was Romania's first freely elected leader after communism fell in 1989, and later faced charges of crimes against humanity.