nt's chairman, and Ion Gheorghe Maurer,
the prime minister, was named as first vice chairman. Both continued in
these positions in early 1972.

General elections were conducted by the Socialist Unity Front in March
1969. Official results indicated that ballots were cast by 99.96 percent
of the country's 13,582,249 eligible voters. Of the votes cast, a
reported 99.75 percent were marked in favor of the single list of
Socialist Unity Front candidates. Although the great majority of the
candidates for the Grand National Assembly who were placed on the ballot
belonged to the PCR, some non-members gained front approval and were
elected. Nearly half of the candidates elected were newcomers to the
assembly and included forty-one Hungarian, twelve German, and nine other
minority representatives. The front has scheduled the next general
elections for 1973.

CHAPTER 9

POLITICAL DYNAMICS AND VALUES

At the beginning of 1972 the country's political system continued to be
based on the leading position of the Romanian Communist Party (Partidul
Communist Roman--PCR). Within the party, political power was centralized
in a small group of men who occupied the leading party and government
offices. Political authority was particularly concentrated in the hands
of the general secretary of the PCR, Nicolae Ceausescu, who was also the
head of state.

Regarding itself as the leading force of the society, the PCR has made
the government apparatus an instrument of party policy and, through a
broad network of subordinate mass organizations, has mobilized all
elements of the society in support of its programs and goals. Individual
and group participation in the political process was limited to the
forms and means permitted by the PCR.

The concentration of all political authority in the central bodies of
the party has effectively precluded the emergence of any open opposition
to the PCR leadership as well as the assertion of any particular group
interests. Under Ceausescu's leadership the party has sought to
strengthen its role in all spheres of social, economic, and political
life and, at the same time, to broaden its base of support by taking
steps to increase its membership. Although the party leaders have
periodically demonstrated a cautious relaxation of the highly
centralized system of control, the PCR has continued to be extremely
sensitive to any potential threats or challenges to its position.

In attempting to build a b