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BUCHAREST, Romania -- Ten years after communism's fall, 4 in 5 Romanians are unhappy with the way they live, with 61 percent saying they were better off under the late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, an opinion poll reports.
"This is a very sad picture of Romanian society," political scientist Dorel Abraham told a news conference late last week while commenting on the findings of the survey released by the Open Society Foundation.
The survey also showed a dramatic plunge in popularity ratings for President Emil Constantinescu and his centrists, who are now trailing far behind the leftists they ousted in polls three years ago.
"The situation in the country is very tense, the mood is bad and pessimism is on the rise," Abraham said.
Disaster, poverty, chaos, difficulties and disorder were the words chosen by most of the 2,019 Romanians polled in late October to best describe the country's situation, as Romania prepares to mark 10 years since Eastern Europe's most violent anti-communist revolution.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Abraham said, Ceausescu was chosen by most, or 22 percent of those polled, as Romania's best, as well as its most evil, leader over the past 100 years.
"This paradox also reflects the current economic and social situation," Abraham said.
The poll also showed that 84 percent of Romanians lack confidence in the government after three years of a shrinking economy and widespread layoffs. More than 80 percent said they had lost confidence in parliament and political parties.
Failure to meet promises of weeding out corruption, improving living standards and speeding up privatization also halved support for Constantinescu, now at a record low of 17 percent, down from 38 percent last year.
Leftist rival Ion Iliescu, defeated by Constantinescu in 1996 polls after seven years in office, is now credited with 44 percent of credibility, up from 28 percent a year ago.
With support for Constantinescu's centrists halved from June's 34 percent, the survey showed that Iliescu's Party of Social Democracy was the biggest gainer from what Abraham called "three years of mismanagement and hesitation."