The Party of Free Change (, PLS) was a satirical political party in Romania, founded by and with as its first president. Its name, message and symbols were overt references and homages to Ion Luca Caragiale, the classical Romanian humorist; building on an inside joke, its agenda praised opportunism and even encouraged members to leave the party. However, the PLS was also criticized for its alleged links with the ruling National Salvation Front (FSN), and for being one of the many groups which split the vote in the general election of 1990 and local ones of 1992. It won a seat in Chamber, taken by Cazimir, and several positions on local councils. Changes in the electoral legislation signaled the PLS' decline—a rapid one, after Cazimir defected to the Social Democratic Party (PDSR; now PSD) in 1992. No seat was won by the party in the general elections of that year, and, although technically undissolvable according to its statutes, it eventually disappeared before the 1996 election. Theater director Mircea Cornișteanu was its second and last president. History Creation The PLS began existence shortly after the December 1989 revolution, which toppled the communist regime and restored multiparty democracy. It was founded by editorial cartoonist Octavian Andronic, with a manifesto published on February 6, 1990 in Libertatea daily; literary critic Ștefan Cazimir adhered "by phone" on February 7. The name was adapted from Ion Luca Caragiale's comedy O scrisoare pierdută (1884), which Andronic had just watched on Romanian Television, in the Liviu Ciulei adaptation. In the original text, it already appears as a double entendre: one of the key characters, Nae Cațavencu, declares himself liber schimbist, technically "a supporter of free trade", but this can also be read as "easy changer"—one who changes views or convictions easily, without scruples. One of the main principles of the party was granting the status of honorary membership to anyone who changed their allegiance from one political party to another. Cazimir, often mistaken as the party founder, had had a political involvement with the Romanian Communist Party and, earlier, the Union of Communist Youth, to which he adhered ca. 1949. In December, he had been caught up in the revolutionary events, first as an unwilling participant in the communist counter-manifestation, then as a supporter of the street movement in Bucharest. Overall, the new enterprise was entirely built on his deadpan humor (for which he was already famous)