The Portuguese legislative election of 2005 took place on February 20. These elections were called after the decision of President Jorge Sampaio on November 30, 2004 to dissolve the Parliament as an answer to the political instability caused by the government led by Pedro Santana Lopes (PSD) in coalition with the PP. Santana Lopes had become Prime-Minister after José Manuel Durão Barroso left the country in order to become President of the European Commission in a decision that divided the country, because many Portuguese were expecting that the Socialist President Jorge Sampaio would dissolve parliament and call a legislative election. However, after five unstable months, president Sampaio decided to dissolve Parliament and call fresh elections. The Prime Minister nevertheless announced the resignation of the government on December 11, in an action with no practical effects whatsoever. The campaign started officially on February 6 and the major topics were the problematic state of the country's finances, unemployment and abortion. The right-wing parties, mainly the Social Democrats, were punished for their performance in government, and lost more than 10% of the voting. On the left, the Leftwing Bloc achieved its best result ever and made the biggest climb, gaining 5 MPs, while the CDU (Communists and the Greens) gained 2 MPs and reversed their downward trend of the last elections. The major parties involved, listed with their leaders:
José Sócrates, leader of the Socialist Party, was nominated Prime Minister.
[edit] National summary of votes and seats
Note:
Bei den portugiesischen Parlamentswahlen 2005 am 20. Februar [edit] See also[edit] Further reading
[edit] External links
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