Romania's slow-burn revolution sends signal across Europe's hinterland

Eastern Europe hailed a new Prince of Orange yesterday after Traian Basescu came from behind in the runoff election to be president of Romania. Like Ukraine's Viktor Yushchenko, the mayor of Bucharest and self-styled scourge of corrupt apparatchiks chose orange for his campaign colours. Unlike Mr Yushchenko, his victory is undisputed by his rival, the prime minister, Adrian Nastase. And no one tried to poison him. When east European jitters about a resurgent Russia are on the rise, this former ship's captain became the fresh, unmarked face of a future anchored more firmly in the west. Many Romanians see Mr Basescu's success as the long-awaited climax to a slow-burn revolution which began at Christmas 1989 when the detested pro-Soviet regime of Nicolae Ceausescu was toppled by a coup. Ceausescu was put up against a wall and shot. But communist era habits died harder. The old elite relabelled themselves Social Democrats (PSD) and became the government party for most of the past 15 years. But as in Ukraine, which in theory gained its independence in 1991, a corrupt culture of party barons and millionaire oligarchs continued to dominate many aspects of Romanian life. "The former communists still controlled all the levers of power - the TV and media, industry and the economy, the security forces and the secret police," one analyst said yesterday. "The regional tsars under Ceausescu just switched sides."