Portuguese legislative election, 2005

The Portuguese legislative election of 2005 took place on February 20. These elections were called after the decision of President

President of Portugal

Portugal has been a republic since 1910, and since that time the head of state has been the president, whose official title is President of the Portuguese Republic ....

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

Pedro Santana Lopes

Pedro Miguel de Santana Lopes , a Portuguese lawyer and politician, was Prime Minister of Portugal from 2004 to 2005. He is a former and current Member of the Portuguese Parliament.-Background:...

(PSD

Social Democratic Party (Portugal)

The Social Democratic Party , is a centre-right liberal conservative political party in Portugal. It is commonly known by its initials, PSD; on ballot papers, its initials appear as PPD/PSD, with the first three letters coming from the party's original name, Democratic People's Party...

) in coalition with the PP. Santana Lopes had become Prime-Minister after José Manuel Durão Barroso

José Manuel Durão Barroso

José Manuel Durão Barroso is a Portuguese politician. He is President of the European Commission, since 23 November 2004. He served as Prime Minister of Portugal from 6 April 2002 to 17 July 2004.-Academic career:...

left the country in order to become President of the European Commission

President of the European Commission

The President of the European Commission is the head of the European Commission ― the executive branch of the :European Union ― the most powerful officeholder in the EU. The President is responsible for allocating portfolios to members of the Commission and can reshuffle or dismiss them if needed...

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

Unemployment

Unemployment , as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks...

and abortion

Abortion

Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...

.

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:

Leftwing Bloc (BE), Francisco Louçã
Francisco Louçã
Francisco Anacleto Louçã is a Portuguese economist and politician, first elected in 1999.. He is the son of António Seixas Louçã, who commanded a ship on the Tagus River during the Carnation Revolution, and wife Noémia da Rocha Neves Anacleto , a lawyer.Louçã was an active opponent of the...
Unitarian Democratic Coalition
Unitarian Democratic Coalition
The Democratic Unity Coalition is an electoral and political coalition between the Portuguese Communist Party and the Ecologist Party "The Greens"...

(CDU), Jerónimo de Sousa
Jerónimo de Sousa
Jerónimo Carvalho de Sousa is the General Secretary of the Portuguese Communist Party since the 17th Congress of the Party in November 2004....
Socialist Party
Socialist Party (Portugal)
The Socialist Party , abbreviated to PS, is a social-democratic political party in Portugal. It was founded on 19 April 1973 in the German city of Bad Münstereifel, by militants from Portuguese Socialist Action ....

(PS), José Sócrates
José Sócrates
José Sócrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa, GCIH , commonly known by José Sócrates , is a Portuguese politician who was the Prime Minister of Portugal from 12 March 2005 to 21 June 2011....
Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party (Portugal)
The Social Democratic Party , is a centre-right liberal conservative political party in Portugal. It is commonly known by its initials, PSD; on ballot papers, its initials appear as PPD/PSD, with the first three letters coming from the party's original name, Democratic People's Party...

(PSD), Pedro Santana Lopes
Pedro Santana Lopes
Pedro Miguel de Santana Lopes , a Portuguese lawyer and politician, was Prime Minister of Portugal from 2004 to 2005. He is a former and current Member of the Portuguese Parliament.-Background:...
People's Party (PP), Paulo Portas
Paulo Portas
Paulo de Sacadura Cabral Portas , commonly known just by Paulo Portas , is a Portuguese politician, party leader of the Democratic and Social Centre – People's Party , a member of the Portuguese Parliament and former Portuguese minister of State, National Defense and Sea Affairs.In 2011, after he...

With 230 seats the results are:

Socialist Party
Socialist Party (Portugal)
The Socialist Party , abbreviated to PS, is a social-democratic political party in Portugal. It was founded on 19 April 1973 in the German city of Bad Münstereifel, by militants from Portuguese Socialist Action ....

(PS): 121 - Absolute Majority
Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party (Portugal)
The Social Democratic Party , is a centre-right liberal conservative political party in Portugal. It is commonly known by its initials, PSD; on ballot papers, its initials appear as PPD/PSD, with the first three letters coming from the party's original name, Democratic People's Party...

(PSD): 75
Democratic Unity Coalition (PCP-PEV): 14
Democratic and Social Centre – People's Party (CDS-PP): 12
Left Bloc (BE): 8

José Sócrates, leader of the Socialist Party, was nominated Prime Minister.

Opinion Polling

The following table shows the opinion polls of voting intention of the Portuguese voters before the election. Those parties that are listed are currently represented in parliament. Included is also the result of the Portuguese general elections in 2002 and 2005 for reference.

Distribution by constituency

Socialist Party (Portugal)

The Socialist Party , abbreviated to PS, is a social-democratic political party in Portugal. It was founded on 19 April 1973 in the German city of Bad Münstereifel, by militants from Portuguese Socialist Action ....

!colspan=2 | PSD

Social Democratic Party (Portugal)

!colspan=2 | CDU

Unitarian Democratic Coalition

The Democratic Unity Coalition is an electoral and political coalition between the Portuguese Communist Party and the Ecologist Party "The Greens"...

Azores

The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...

| 53.1
| 3
| 34.4
| 2
| 1.7
| -
| 4.0
| -
| 2.9
| -
| 5
|-
|align="left"| Aveiro
| 41.1
| 8
| 35.7
| 6
| 3.5
| -
| 9.8
| 1
| 5.1
| -
| 15
|-
|align="left"| Beja
| 51.0
| 2
| 12.3
| -
| 24.1
| 1
| 2.9
| -
| 4.7
| -
| 3
|-
|align="left"| Braga
| 45.4
| 9
| 32.9
| 7
| 4.8
| 1
| 7.8
| 1
| 4.6
| -
| 18
|-
|align="left"| Bragança
| 42.1
| 2
| 39.0
| 2
| 2.0
| -
| 9.7
| -
| 2.5
| -
| 4
|-
|align="left"| Castelo Branco
| 56.0
| 4
| 26.7
| 1
| 3.8
| -
| 5.3
| -
| 3.7
| -
| 5
|-
|align="left"| Coimbra
| 45.4
| 6
| 31.9
| 4
| 5.5
| -
| 5.5
| -
| 6.3
| -
| 10
|-
|align="left"| Évora
| 49.7
| 2
| 16.7
| -
| 20.9
| 1
| 3.7
| -
| 4.6
| -
| 3
|-
|align="left"| Faro
| 49.3
| 6
| 24.6
| 2
| 6.9
| -
| 5.8
| -
| 7.7
| -
| 8
|-
|align="left"| Guarda
| 46.8
| 2
| 34.7
| 2
| 2.9
| -
| 7.0
| -
| 3.4
| -
| 4
|-
|align="left"| Leiria
| 35.6
| 4
| 39.8
| 5
| 4.6
| -
| 8.9
| 1
| 5.5
| -
| 10
|-
|align="left"| Lisbon
| 44.1
| 23
| 23.7
| 12
| 9.8
| 5
| 8.2
| 4
| 8.8
| 4
| 48
|-
|align="left"| Madeira

Madeira

Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...

| 35.0
| 3
| 45.2
| 3
| 3.6
| -
| 6.6
| -
| 3.8
| -
| 6
|-
|align="left"| Portalegre
| 54.9
| 2
| 20.2
| -
| 12.1
| -
| 4.2
| -
| 4.6
| -
| 2
|-
|align="left"| Porto

Porto District

The District of Porto , sometimes Oporto in English, is located on the north-west coast of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Porto, the second largest city in the country...

| 48.5
| 20
| 27.8
| 12
| 5.4
| 2
| 6.9
| 2
| 6.7
| 2
| 38
|-
|align="left"| Santarém
| 46.1
| 6
| 26.4
| 3
| 8.6
| 1
| 6.9
| -
| 6.5
| -
| 10
|-
|align="left"| Setúbal
| 43.6
| 8
| 16.1
| 3
| 20.0
| 3
| 5.1
| 1
| 10.3
| 2
| 17
|-
|align="left"| Viana do Castelo
| 42.0
| 3
| 33.5
| 2
| 3.8
| -
| 11.4
| 1
| 4.5
| -
| 6
|-
|align="left"| Vila Real
| 43.8
| 3
| 40.2
| 2
| 2.6
| -
| 6.8
| -
| 2.4
| -
| 5
|-
|align="left"| Viseu
| 40.4
| 4
| 40.2
| 4
| 2.2
| -
| 8.6
| 1
| 3.3
| -
| 9
|-
!align="left"| Europe
! 54.3
! 1
! 27.2
! 1
! 4.2
! -
! 3.4
! -
! 2.3
! -
! 2
|-
!align="left"| Rest of the World
! 26.3
! -
! 57.7
! 2
! 1.0
! -
! 3.5
! -
! 0.7
! -
! 2
|-
|- class="unsortable" style="background:#E9E9E9"
|align="left"| Total
| 45.0
| 121
| 28.8
| 75
| 7.5
| 14
| 7.2
| 12
| 6.4
| 8
| 230
|-
| colspan=12 align=left | Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
|}

External links

Angus Reid Consultants - Election Tracker

Opinion Polling

Distribution by constituency

External links

See also