The National Salvation Front (, FSN) was the most important political organization formed during the Romanian Revolution in December 1989; it set up the interim governing body, the National Salvation Front Council of Romania, in the first weeks after the collapse of the communist regime. The FSN subsequently became a political party, the largest party in post-communist Romania, and won the 1990 election with 66% of the national vote. Ion Iliescu, co-leader of the FSN, won election as President of Romania with 85% of the vote.

Iliescu nominated the co-leader of the FSN, Petre Roman, who was serving as interim prime minister, as the prime minister of the first cabinet formed after Romania's first post-Ceaușescu free and fair elections. After the fourth (September 1991), Roman was forced to resign on 1 October 1991. Tensions between Iliescu and Roman came to a head in April 1992, at the national congress of FSN, when the party split in two, forming the Democratic Front of National Salvation (FDSN), led by President Iliescu; and FSN, led by Petre Roman (in 1993, the FSN was the renamed as the Democratic Party (PD).

The National Salvation Front (FSN) founded by Iliescu and Roman was the common root of two of the largest active political parties in post-communist Romania: the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the Democratic Party (PD, later the Democratic Liberal Party, PDL, after the merger with a splinter group from PNL, the Liberal Democratic Party, PLD). In 2014, the second party (the former PD; then PDL) merged into the National Liberal Party (PNL).

History

Formation and rise to power

In March 1989 six prominent members of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) wrote an open letter to President Nicolae Ceaușescu that criticised his abuses of power and his economic policies. The so-called "Letter of the Six" was circulated in the Western media and read on Radio Free Europe.

In 1989, before the 14th Congress of the Romanian Communist Party, two letters signed "National Salvation Front" began circulating. They were read on Radio Free Europe on 27 August and 8 November.

The creation of the FSN was officially announced to the public by Ion Iliescu in radio and TV addresses on 22 December 1989, after the overthrow of Ceaușescu in the Romanian Revolution. The FSN proclaimed itself the supreme power within Romania. Within four days, the FSN formed an interim government with Ion Iliescu being the president and Petre Roman as the interim prime minister. The initial membership of FSN came from diverse backgrounds: intellectuals, students, army officers, but the leaders were mostly former Communist officials (see List of members of the National Salvation Front Council). and alleged mismanagement and marginalization of undesirables within the Communist party in members such as Ion Iliescu.

In the following years, the naming identity between the power body created in December 1989 and the group signing the November 1989 leaflets led some to question whether the National Salvation Front (FSN) existed as an underground organization. According to Silviu Brucan, this was not the case, as the letters were written by Alexandru Melian, a professor at the University of Bucharest, who had no connection to the leaders of the NSF.

thumb|right|alt=Three men are walking side-by-side holding papers. The first two are wearing a suit and the third is wearing a red sweater. The first man is smiling and flashing a V sign.|Ion Iliescu (center) with FSN members [[Dumitru Mazilu (left) and Petre Roman (right) on 23 December 1989, one day after the formation of the FSN.]]

Interim government

On 27 December, the FSN decreed the abolition of the one-party system and called for free elections. Shortly afterwards, two major political parties claiming to be the successors of the two most important pre-Communist Romanian parties, more specifically the National Peasants' Party (PNŢ) and the National Liberal Party (PNL), were founded and registered.

At first, the FSN announced that it would not be nominating candidates in the forthcoming elections. Some members of FSN, like Dumitru Mazilu, Mircea Dinescu, Ion Caramitru, Andrei Pleșu, Dan Hăulică, Gabriel Liiceanu, or Doina Cornea resigned before FSN became a political party.

On 6 February 1990, the FSN, transformed itself into a political party, in order to be able to run in the upcoming elections. Except for a few newspapers, FSN had extensive control over the Romanian mass-media, particularly the state owned television company and the newly founded Adevărul newspaper.

First elected government

The FSN had strong support among the peasants and the urban industrial workers, while the PNL and PNŢCD had strong support among the intellectuals in urban areas.

As popular anger was directly primarily at the Ceaușescu family, the FSN benefited from the institutional links of the disbanded Communist Party and needed no specific program in order to win the elections, being a catch-all party.

Petre Roman remained leader of the FSN. On 28 May 1993, the party was renamed Democratic Party – National Salvation Front (, PD-FSN), before shortening its name to Democratic Party (PD) in 1998.