Gheorghe Ciuhandu
Biographical information

Mayor Cihandu is a rare specimen of Romanian politicians. He did not come to the political life with a political baggage from the communist era like most of the other Romanian politicians, who in fact just changed hats and continued about their business. He never belonged to the Communist Party, and repeatedly refused the calls to join him. Gheorghe Ciuhandu comes from a modest family of teachers, who followed and respected the traditions and customs of their forbearers. His upbringing made it easy for him to identify a political party after the anti – communist, anti-Ceausescu revolution from December 1989. He chose to belong to the National Peasant Christian Democrat Party, an organization with a long historical visibility. The party became illegal in Romania after the communists took over control of the country in 1947, and assassinated and incarcerated the political leaders of this party along with thousands of its members.

Once the December 1989 bloody revolution was over and Ceausescu was executed, Gheorghe Ciuhandu was invited to be part of the first committees of post revolutionary governing. By the end of 1990, when he realized that most of the communists and oppressors from the old regime just rolled over into a new government, which hijacked the political power during the chaotic days immediately following December 1989, Mayor Ciuhandu joined the party in the opposition, the National Peasant Christian-Democrat Party. He became president of this party in Timisoara in 1991, and the General President of the entire party in 2004.

After winning the nomination of his party, in 1996 Gheroghe Ciuhandu is overwhelmingly elected as the Mayor of the Revolution City of Timisoara. He started working on the infrastructure of the city, and supported a real economical boom. The people of the city reelected him again and again, based on his merits as the leader of one of the premiere and most western cities of Romania, and despite of the political trends at the central level of the government. Usually, when a new president comes to power, most of the elected officials tend to have the same political orientation. In 2004, Gheorghe Ciuhandu is the presidential candidate nominated by his party. After lost elections, the Mayor returns to Timisoara, and helps pave the way for the city to integrations into the European Union. In 2007, Romania became an EU member.