The previous elections:
Portuguese elections 1975Portuguese elections 1976Portuguese elections 1979Portuguese elections 1980Portuguese elections 1983Portuguese elections 1985Portuguese elections 1987Portuguese elections 1991Portuguese elections 1995Portuguese elections 1999Portuguese elections 2002The 2005 general election, scheduled for February 20, was called after the dissolution of Parliament, the "atomic bomb" of Portuguese politics, decreed by the President of the Republic, Jorge Sampaio, on November 2004.
Parties:
PPD/PSD - Social Democratic Party, center-right, leader Pedro Santana Lopes
PS - Socialist Party center-left, leader José Sócrates
CDS-PP - CDS-People's Party, center-right, leader Paulo Portas
CDU - Unitary Democratic Coalition (PCP, PEV), left-wing, leader Jerónimo de Sousa
BE - Left Bloc, left-wing, leader Francisco Louçã
PCTP/MRPP - Portuguese Workers' Communist Party, far-left/Maoism, leader António Garcia Pereira
PH - Humanist Party, center-left,
PNR - National Renovator Party, far-right, leader José Pinto Coelho
POUS - Workers Party of Socialist Unity, far-left, leader Carmelinda Pereira
PND - New Democracy Party, center-right to right-wing, leader Manuel Monteiro
PDA - Democratic Party of the Atlantic, centrist, leader José Ventura
Background:
The results of the 2002 general election were the closest ever, with the PSD edging the PS by just 2.2% of the votes. Nonetheless, PSD and CDS-PP gained enough seats to form a coalition, 119 seats out of 230, despite the fierce attacks between PSD and CDS-PP during the campaign. This would be the first coalition government since the PS-PSD coalition between 1983 and 1985. The government faced a harsh economic prospect, with the economy entering in a recession and the budget deficits increasing. In fact, these bad economic data prompted Barroso to say one of his most memorable lines as PM and PSD leader. In one of his first Q&A debates in Parliament, he accused the former PS government of leaving Portugal in thongs. To face the harsh economic situation, the government dropped some parts of its "fiscal shock plans" and cutted spending and increased taxes. These policies quickly made the PSD/CDS coalition quite unpopular, and the PS surged ahead of the PSD in the polls by the summer of 2002. The PSD regain a bit after the 2003 massive wildfires, but they lost the lead, once again, in the polls soon after.
By late 2002, one of the biggest scandals in Portugal' history erupted, the Casa Pia child sexual abuse scandal. The scandal targeted many celebrities and also some politicians, especially from the PS. Paulo Pedroso, one of Ferro Rodrigues closest allies, was arrested as a suspect of child abuse but he was later released. Ferro Rodrigues himself was implicated in the scandal, as some children said they saw him in the places were abuses were held, but the charges were deemed false and, later, it was revealed that some of the children lied to the police. The case hurted the PS in the polls, but the party regain the lead over the PSD by late 2003. By this time the economy was recovering, but the popularity of the PSD/CDS government, not so much. Between early 2004 and the EP 2004 elections, the PS lead over the PSD grew to almost 10%. During the EP election campaign, the PS suffered a huge blow as its main candidate, Sousa Franco, died of a heart attack during a campaign rally. He was replaced by António Costa and the PS won an impressive 44.5% of the votes, against the PSD/CDS coalition's 33%. By this time Portugal was too busy with the organization of the Euro 2004, and paid little attention to politics. But, when the Euro championship ended, Durão Barroso made a surprise announcement: he would be stepping down as PM to be President of the European Commission. His decision was very bad received by all parties, including his own party, the PSD. President Jorge Sampaio had to decide if he called a snap general election or nominate the PSD chosen candidate, Pedro Santana Lopes. Despite pressures from the PS and the left, Sampaio nominated Santana Lopes as PM. Ferro Rodrigues resigned as PS leader shortly after.
To elect a new leader, the PS hold a national congress in September 2004 in which 3 candidates stepped in: José Sócrates, João Soares, son of Mário Soares, and Manuel Alegre. Sócrates won easily the congress gathering almost 80% of the delegates. By this time, Santana Lopes government was becoming deeply unpopular. He was accused of incompetence and lack of leadership. In fact, many of his ministers were resigning and, by November 2004, President Jorge Sampaio had have enough. For the first time ever, a President used the "atomic bomb" of Portuguese politics, the immediate dissolution of Parliament. Santana Lopes accepted the decision, but said it was a wrong decision that would harm the country. Sampaio called elections for February 20, 2005.
The campaign was one of the nastiest ever in Portuguese history, with harsh attacks between PS and PSD, and the suspicion, started by some PSD campaign officials, that José Sócrates was gay. PS proposed cutting taxes, controlling the deficit and modernizing the economy, plus promissed to held a referendum to legalize abortion. PSD ran alone, a coalition between them and the CDS was considered but dropped ultimately, and campaigned against the social policies of the PS, legalizing abortion f.e., on a conservative fiscal strategy and on Sócrates suspicious past as an engineer, adding to this his private life. BE campaigned hard on social policies, CDU, with a new leader Jerónimo de Sousa, tried to regain their status as the 3rd biggest party in the country, and CDS campaigned on a similar platform as the PSD. To add, a new party, the New Democracy Party (PND), ran in these elections. Headed by former CDS leader Manuel Monteiro, after he left CDS, the party was eurosceptic and liberal conservative. The stage as set for the 2005 elections.
Poll
