---
title: Defaced ballot, Tulcea County, Great National Assembly elections, 17 November 1987
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/defaced-ballot-tulcea-1987/
description: 'A single-list ballot from the Tulcea County vote for the Great National Assembly: the two printed candidate names, both struck through, the Front of…'
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Defaced ballot, Tulcea County, Great National Assembly elections, 17 November 1987](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/defaced-ballot-tulcea-1987.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/defaced-ballot-tulcea-1987.jpg)

# Defaced ballot, Tulcea County, Great National Assembly elections, 17 November 1987

A single-list ballot from the Tulcea County vote for the Great National Assembly: the two printed candidate names, both struck through, the Front of Democracy and Socialist Unity's stamp at right, and a handwritten comment across the sheet saying that if an electrified country cannot assure 10 kilowatts a month per inhabitant, then its president is either [illegible] or sick with the cult of personality. The tell: a voter turns the one permitted mark into a message, and the comment's wording is an insult directed at the head of state.

## Text on the object

Original (Romanian) · checked against a source transcription

```
Dacă într-o țară electrificată nu se poate asigura 10 kilowați pe locuitor pe lună înseamnă că președintele ori e [illegible], ori e bolnav de cultul personalității.

GÂLCĂ M. ANA [struck through]
CHIOSEAUA GH. MARIA [struck through]

Frontul Democrației și Unității Socialiste [stamp]
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
If in an electrified country 10 kilowatts per inhabitant per month cannot be ensured, it means that the president is either [illegible], or sick with the cult of personality.

GÂLCĂ M. ANA [struck through]
CHIOSEAUA GH. MARIA [struck through]

Front of Democracy and Socialist Unity [stamp]
```

The handwriting is blurred in the reproduction; the wording follows the transcription on the Wikimedia Commons file page (from Adevărul), checked against the image where legible; one word is marked [?] there and [illegible] here. The candidate surnames are as printed, read from the image with some uncertainty about the diacritics. Translation by machine, not verified by a fluent reader.

[← "Reagan stop Star-Wars": placard and children's banners at an anti-missile demonstration, The Hague](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/reagan-stop-star-wars-children-banners-the-hague-1987/) ["El No... otra vez la Unidad Popular" leaflet: queues, empty shelves and ration cards (1988) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/chile-el-no-otra-vez-la-up-leaflet-1988/)

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