Portugal's early elections

[Sun_Tze]

Well... like the Sports threads, instead of opening several threads about Politics, why don't put all inside of this thread?

So, as a opening news:

Santana Lopes reshuffled his government last week

Portugal leader calls early poll

Portugal's socialist President, Jorge Sampaio, is dissolving parliament and will call early elections, Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes has said.

Mr Santana Lopes, who heads a centre-right coalition, made the announcement after meeting the president.

His four-month-old administration has faced strong criticism over allegations of media interference and a lack of co-ordination between ministers.

Former premier Jose Manuel Barroso left to head the European Commission.

President Sampaio said in a statement he would meet leaders of parties in parliament and the advisory Council of State to discuss the situation, Reuters news agency reported.

The meetings can be held over a few days and are part of the procedure to dissolve parliament and call an election. Elections had been scheduled for 2006.

Mr Santana Lopes said he disagreed with the president's decision as his coalition holds a majority in parliament.

Political infighting

Mr Sampaio seems to have decided that an internal government crisis was undermining political stability, says the BBC's Alison Roberts in Lisbon.

The row was sparked by the resignation of the government minister for youth and sport, Henrique Chaves, who accused the prime minister of dishonesty and disloyalty after a cabinet reshuffle.

A spokesman for Mr Sampaio said the president believed the prime minister lacked "the indispensable political conditions to continue to mobilise Portugal... in a coherent, rigorous and stable fashion".

Rival party leaders had called for elections in July when Mr Barroso moved on.

Instead, Mr Sampaio appointed Mr Santana Lopes, with the warning that he must maintain economic and political stability.

A recent opinion poll put the opposition Socialist Party ahead of the Social Democratic Party, which heads the government coalition with the Popular Party.

Now, i shall be taking care of registering so i can vote

[NoSanninWa]

Originally Posted by Sun_Tze

Well... like the Sports threads, instead of opening several threads about Politics, why don't put all inside of this thread?

Because we have separate threads for each sport. Basketball, Rugby, Hocky, Football, The 2004 Olympics and even The 2003 Rock, Paper, Scissors Championship all have their own threads. Quite frankly each political topic is separate for the same reason that each sport is separate. Different political issues are of interest to different people and shouldn't be crowded together when they are really entirely separate issues.

That's why I changed the name for this thread. I hope you don't mind too much.

[Scrumhalf]

Originally Posted by Sun_Tze

Now, i shall be taking care of registering so i can vote

Who will you be voting for? I didn't realise Portugal is a socialist nation.

[Sun_Tze]

Originally Posted by Scrumhalf

Who will you be voting for? I didn't realise Portugal is a socialist nation.

I'm waiting to know the goverment plan of the Socialist Party. The person that is making the plan is probably the best politician in Portugal. But i will probably vote on the Socialist Party.

[音楽は死んだ]

Originally Posted by Sun_Tze

I'm waiting to know the goverment plan of the Socialist Party. The person that is making the plan is probably the best politician in Portugal. But i will probably vote on the Socialist Party.

Dont know why but it makes me smile to relize that even in a country in such conflict, there is someone downloading anime Hope things work out over there.