 Complete the following phrase:  Nicolae Ceaușescu, incumbent General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party and president of the State Council, was elected by the Great National Assembly as the first President of the Republic on 28 March 1974; he was the only candidate. On 4 April 1974, the Communist Party daily Scînteia published a congratulatory telegram, in which Salvador Dalí actually mocked Ceaușescu on his introducing the presidential scepter. Being successively re-elected, Ceaușescu served as the president until 