35-458: The District of Leiria ( Portuguese : Distrito de Leiria [lɐjˈɾi.ɐ] ) is a district located between the Oeste e Vale do Tejo and Centro regions of Portugal , and divided between the traditional provinces of Beira Litoral and Estremadura . It borders on the north with district of Coimbra , on the east with district of Castelo Branco and with district of Santarém , on
70-790: A referendum for the legalization of abortion was held. After the failure of the 1998 referendum , the Yes side prevailed winning 59 percent of the votes against the No's 41 percent, making abortion legal in Portugal. While the deficit reduction had been successful, and with the economy growing above 2 percent of GDP, the government faced heavy opposition for its policies, particularly from teachers unions. In March 2008, more than 100,000 teachers protested in Lisbon against Sócrates and his Education minister, Maria de Lurdes Rodrigues . José Sócrates four-year term
105-721: A clear lead over the conservative Social Democrats, with big gains for the People's Party and for the Left Bloc . Neither of the two major parties won an absolute majority in the Assembly of the Republic, so, the future prime minister had to form a coalition, or at least rely on other parties to govern. In that case, José Sócrates was in a better position than Manuela Ferreira Leite, since the Portuguese left won by 54.23 percent of
140-481: Is divided into 18 districts . As an administrative division, each district serves mainly as the area of jurisdiction of a civil governor , who acts as the local delegate of the Central Government of Portugal . The Districts of Portugal were established by a royal decree of 18 July 1835. On the Portuguese mainland, they correspond to the current districts, with the exception of Setúbal District, which
175-667: Is the result of a split of Lisbon District in 1926. This decree did not affect the then extensive colonial empire. The 1976 Portuguese Constitution specifies that Portugal has only, as first-level divisions, the autonomous regions ( Azores and Madeira ) and the administrative regions (to be created in mainland Portugal). According to the Constitution, the districts shall be disestablished in territories in which an autonomous or administrative region has been created. The districts were abolished in Azores and Madeira in 1976, when
210-640: The Assembly of the Republic . In these elections there were approximately 9.5 million Portuguese at home and abroad called to determine the 230 seats in the Assembleia da República and 18th constitutional government in Portugal after 1976. The election took place during the regular end of the previous four-year legislative period. From 2005 to 2009, the Socialist Party (PS), led by José Sócrates, governed with an absolute majority. The opinion polls at
245-653: The Public Prosecution office ruled that Sócrates indeed obtained his degree illegally. In the second case, the Freeport affair , Sócrates was accused, as environment minister (1999–2002), of allegedly ignoring environmental restrictions, due to interventions from members of his own family, in order to allow the construction of a shopping mall in Alcochete by the British company Freeport. Regarding this case,
280-485: The autonomous regions were created. In 1998, a proposal was submitted to referendum to create eight administrative regions in mainland Portugal, and so to extinguish the districts. The proposal was rejected at the ballot box and so the districts continued to exist in mainland Portugal. Despite their abolition in the autonomous regions, the areas of the three former districts of Azores are still used as areas of jurisdiction of some government and non-government entities, like
315-552: The d'Hondt method makes for a higher effective threshold than certain other allocation methods such as the Hare quota or Sainte-Laguë method , which are more generous to small parties. For these elections, and compared with the 2005 elections, the MPs distributed by districts were the following: The table below lists the parties represented in the Assembly of the Republic during the 10th legislature (2005–2009) and that also partook in
350-461: The Assembly to hold office, as even if the number of opposers of government is larger than that of the supporters, the number of opposers still needs to be equal or greater than 116 (absolute majority) for both the Government's Programme to be rejected or for a motion of no confidence to be approved. The number of seats assigned to each district depends on the district magnitude . The use of
385-462: The PSD's 158 mayoral holds. The PS was also unable to retake control of Lisbon and Porto . In January 2006, a new president was elected. Aníbal Cavaco Silva , PM between 1985 and 1995, became the first center-right candidate to win a presidential election , although only just. The PS candidate, former PM and President Mário Soares polled a disappointing third place with just 14 v of the votes. In 2007,
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#1732790096725420-478: The Socialists, under the leadership of José Sócrates, won 45 percent of the votes and 121 MPs, the 1st time the Socialists won a majority and the 1st time a single party won a majority since Cavaco Silva's PSD victory in 1991 . The PSD suffered a heavy defeat, achieving their worst results since 1983, and faced with this failure, the then PSD leader and outgoing Prime Minister, Pedro Santana Lopes , resigned from
455-479: The beginning of the official election campaign on 12 September 2009, showed a too close to call race between the Socialists and the conservative Social Democrats, but just days before the election the Socialists increased their lead over the Social Democrats. A total of 13 parties and two coalitions competed in this election. Focus of the campaign was the impact of global economic, the financial crisis and
490-490: The campaign for the legislative election of 2009 , the leader of the Socialist Party , José Sócrates , promised a new referendum to the administrative regions and therefore, the abolition of districts, if he won the election. Other personalities support the creation of administrative regions and therefore the abolition of districts. Despite being in the process of being phased out by the decentralisation policies of
525-406: The construction of new infrastructure projects, including the high-speed rail link Lisbon-Madrid and Lisbon-Porto-Vigo, and the new Lisbon airport. The Socialist Party , led by incumbent Prime Minister José Sócrates , won the largest number of seats, but didn't repeat the overall majority they gained in 2005 . The Socialists came in first, despite losing 9 percent of the vote and 24 seats, with
560-454: The district finance directorates (Tax Authority regional offices) and the district football championships. However, the importance of the districts has been decreasing. In recent years, some administrative, financial and political competencies have been delivered to the CCDRs (Comissão de Coordenação e Desenvolvimento Regional, English: Commission for Regional Coordination and Development) and to
595-433: The districts are used as the area of jurisdiction of many entities, including: Following the model of European Portugal, the major Portuguese overseas territories ( Angola , Mozambique and Portuguese India ) were also divided in districts. In these territories, each district was headed by a district governor, subordinated to the governor-general . In Angola and Mozambique , the former district areas mostly coincide with
630-487: The economy entered in a recession and protests against the government policies began. On 12 March 2011, protests against the Government's austerity measures drew up to 280,000 people just in the streets of Lisbon and Porto alone. By the same month of March, the PS Government had presented three Stability and Growth Programs (PECs) and all failed in controlling spending and convincing markets. A forth one, PEC IV,
665-459: The effects of the financial crisis that was shaking the global economy, and, therefore, the country entered in a recession. As a result, the government adopted stimulus measures that worsened the public finances and increased the deficit and the debt. In the European elections of June 7, 2009 , the PSD stunned pundits by winning a European election for the first time since 1989, with 31.7 percent of
700-456: The election: The table below shows voter turnout throughout election day including voters from Overseas. By 2010, Portugal was facing a big economic crisis and the Government was forced to implement austerity measures. Plus, Sócrates name was also involved in a new corruption investigation, Face Oculta , although no accusation was made. Despite the government's announcement of more fiscal restraint policies in order to control public spending,
735-575: The end of a primetime evening news show on TVI network, anchored by Manuela Moura Guedes , also led to accusations of pressure from Sócrates and the PS to end the evening news show as it had several reports on the Freeport affair and an unfavourable coverage towards the Prime Minister. The Freeport affair was ultimately closed due to lack of evidence. Entering 2009, Portugal was strongly hit by
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#1732790096725770-557: The existence of the civil governors is still included in the Portuguese Constitution, its de jure extinction may occur only after a constitutional amendment. In mainland Portugal, for administrative purposes, the districts are still used as the areas of jurisdiction of the local branches and field offices of several Government ministries and agencies. Some of the bodies that have each district as their jurisdiction area are: Furthermore: For non-Government purposes,
805-544: The government, the districts still remain the most relevant subdivision in the country by serving as a basis for a series of administrative divisions such as electoral constituencies , police , and civil protection regional commands; sports district associations; and championships. On September 8, 2011, a decree from the Portuguese Government de facto extinguished all the offices of civil governor by transferring most of their functions to other bodies. As
840-490: The job. In the following leadership elections, held in May 2008, Manuela Ferreira Leite became the first woman to lead a major party in Portugal, winning 38 percent of the votes, against the 31 percent of Pedro Passos Coelho and the 30 percent of Pedro Santana Lopes . The results were the following: The Assembly of the Republic has 230 members elected to four-year terms. Governments do not require absolute majority support of
875-408: The leadership and called an election for party chair. During the first months in his government, Sócrates raised taxes to cut the deficit and initiated a policy of strict budgetary rigor. At the same time, he faced a very harsh summer with Wildfires across the country. That same October, the Socialists suffered a heavy defeat in the 2005 local elections , winning just 108 cities, a drop of 4, against
910-494: The modern province areas. In the former Portuguese India, the Damão and Diu districts are still divisions of the present union territory of Daman and Diu , while the present state of Goa (former Goa District) is now divided into two districts. 2009 Portuguese legislative election José Sócrates PS José Sócrates PS The 2009 Portuguese legislative election was held on 27 September, to renew all 230 members of
945-427: The municipalities, to the detriment of the districts. In 2003, the Portuguese municipalities were allowed to organize themselves into intermunicipal communities ( comunidades intermunicipais ) and metropolitan areas ( áreas metropolitanas ), which allowed for a lessening in the importance of the districts. Also, the abolition of the districts is a subject that returned to discussion in Portuguese society. In 2009, during
980-473: The party in the 2005 elections saying that "in no civilized country in the world, the difference between Trotskyists and Christian Democrats is one percent" , referring to the result of the BE . A snap leadership congress was called to elect a new leader. Two candidates were in the ballot: Telmo Correia , the preferred candidate of Paulo Portas, and José Ribeiro e Castro , more critical of Portas. Ribeiro e Castro
1015-589: The south with district of Lisbon and on the west with the Atlantic Ocean . The district capital is the city of Leiria . In the current main division of the country, the district is divided into two NUTS of Portugal , the Oeste e Vale do Tejo and the Centro regions, with its municipalities distributed by the Nomenclatures of territorial units for statistical purposes (NUTIII) of the Oeste (which
1050-464: The vote and 128 seats, against 39.54 percent and 102 deputies to the right. On 12 October, José Sócrates was invited by President Aníbal Cavaco Silva to form government. The new cabinet was announced on 22 October and sworn in on 26 October. Voter turnout was one of the lowest in Portuguese election history, as 59.7 percent of the electorate cast a ballot. In the February 2005 early elections ,
1085-472: The votes. The Socialists suffered a huge defeat, winning just 26 percent of the votes, a drop of 18 points. In the party's congress in April 2005, Luís Marques Mendes became party leader winning 56 percent of the delegates, against the 44 percent of his rival, Luís Filipe Menezes . The results were the following: CDS–PP leader Paulo Portas , resigned from the leadership following the disappointing result of
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1120-550: Was also marred by a series of corruption and sleaze accusations towards the Prime Minister himself, with the two main cases being the Independent affair and the Freeport affair . In the first, Sócrates was accused of obtaining his degree in engineering by irregular means from the Independente University , and this case, plus further irregularities, led to the closure of the university. Several years later,
1155-477: Was easily elected and the results were the following: In April 2007, former CDS–PP leader Paulo Portas challenged the then party leader, José Ribeiro e Castro , for the leadership and was elected for his former job by a landslide. The results were the following: In the Social Democratic Party, incumbent leader Luís Marques Mendes was being very criticized for his opposition strategy and
1190-462: Was integrated into the new NUTII created in 2023) and the Leiria region . 39°44′38″N 8°48′25″W / 39.74389°N 8.80694°W / 39.74389; -8.80694 Districts of Portugal The Districts of Portugal ( Portuguese : Distritos de Portugal ) are the most important first-level administrative subdivisions of continental Portugal . Currently, mainland Portugal
1225-525: Was left weakened after the PSD disappointing result in the 2007 Lisbon mayoral by-election , where the PSD polled 3rd with less than 16 percent of the votes. Marques Mendes called a snap leadership election and was challenged by his rival in the 2005 PSD congress, Luís Filipe Menezes . Menezes easily defeated Marques Mendes. The results were the following: The then PSD leader, Luís Filipe Menezes , elected in September 2007, resigned after just 6 months in
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