These elections also widened the contrast between Romania and other countries of the Eastern bloc , since the Soviet Union embraced liberalization during the same year . Ceaușescu was by then widely unpopular due to his policy of cutting down on consumer supplies , which served his project of repaying the foreign debt . Popular discontent was contrasted by a massive PCR recruitment drive , as well as by the official approval of gender equality , which saw 30 % of Assembly seats going to women . The communists ' full hold on power was contested by an underground National Peasants ' Party , with Ion Puiu trying and failing to present himself as an opposition candidate . Protests by Romanian dissidents continued over the subsequent Assembly term , reaching an early peak with the Brașov rebellion of 1987
Brașov rebellion
Brașov rebellion
1985 Romanian legislative election