When massive antigovernment demonstrations erupted in Prague in November 1989, Havel became the leading figure in the Civic Forum, a new coalition of non-communist opposition groups pressing for democratic reforms.
In early December the Communist Party capitulated and formed a coalition government with the Civic Forum.
On 29 December 1989, Václav Havel, an opponent of Gustáv Husák’s Communist regime, is elected interim President of Czechoslovakia pending parliamentary elections.
Initially reluctant to take up the post, the playwright turned president guided his country to greater freedoms.
