The National Salvation Front (, FSN) was the most important political organization formed during the Romanian Revolution in December 1989, which became the governing body of Romania in the first weeks after the collapse of the totalitarian communist regime. It subsequently became a political party, the largest post-communist party, and won the 1990 election with 66% of the national vote, under the leadership of then-President Ion Iliescu, who was elected with 85% of the vote. Iliescu nominated again Petre Roman as the Prime Minister of the first cabinet formed after the first free and fair elections. After the fourth ”mineriadă”, Roman was forced to resign. The controversy between the two national leaders was finalized in 1992, at the national Congress of FSN, when the party split in two: the Democratic National Salvation Front (FDSN), under the leadership of President Iliescu; and FSN, under the leadership of Petre Roman (in 1993, it 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 with the ”historical party” National Liberal Party (PNL, founded in 1875, refounded in 1990), and ceased to exist. 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 first letter had a number of questions about Ceaușescu's mismanagement of the economy and human rights violations, while the second letter appealed to the Congress not to re-elect Ceaușescu. People flocked to the National Salvation Front (FSN) for a multitude of reasons ranging from religious oppression in members such as László Tőkés and alleged mismanagement and marginalization of undesirables within the Communist party in members such as Ion Iliescu. After