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.
- Date
- November 17, 1987
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- Anonymous voter, on a ballot of the Front of Democracy and Socialist Unity
- Country
- Romania
- Medium
- Document
- Issuer type
- Individual
- Regime
- Ceausescu Regime
- Leader
- Nicolae Ceausescu
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Techniques
- Name-calling
- Leader
- Nicolae Ceaușescu
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons, retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (Commons templates PD-RO-exempt and PD-1996; author unknown)
Ballot of 17 November 1987 as reproduced in Adevărul (Constanța), 12 December 2016, via Wikimedia Commons.
Text on the object
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]
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.
