THE DEMOCRATIC convention of Romania (CDR), an alliance of opposition parties and civic organizations founded in 1991, is dead in all but name. In March, the Social Democratic Party of Romania (PSDR), the Liberal Party ’93 (PL ’93), and the Party of Civic Alliance (PAC) left the alliance rather than sign a revised version of the convention’s protocol imposed by the strongest CDR member, the National Peasant Party Christian Democratic (PNTCD). A fourth member, the Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR), was forced out on grounds of unconstitutionality in late February when it refused to comply with an ultimatum demanding that it abandon its struggle for autonomy for the ethnic Magyar community.
