2005 in politics
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Events
January
- January 1
- The Freedom of Information Act 2000 comes into force in the United Kingdom.
- In Germany, stage IV of the Hartz concept brought together unemployment benefits and social security benefits, despite protests.
- In Switzerland, Ruth Lüthi becomes president of the Council of State of Fribourg; Heinz Albicker becomes president of the government of Schaffhausen; Anne-Catherine Lyon becomes president of the Council of State of Vaud; Brigitte Profos becomes Landammann of Zug.
- January 2 - Aníbal Acevedo Vilá takes office as governor of Puerto Rico.
- January 4 - Violence in Iraq, assassination of the Governor of Baghdad, Ali al-Haidri.
- January 5 - Adam Daniel Rotfeld is sworn in as Foreign Minister of Poland.
- January 7 - Isidore Mvouba becomes Prime Minister of the Congo Republic.
- January 14 - Sergey Morozov is inaugurated as governor of the Ulyanovsk Oblast.
- 15 January - Mahmoud Abbas is inaugurated as President of the Palestinian Authority.
- 21 January - George W. Bush is sworn in for a second term as President of the United States of America following his 2004 election victory.
- January 24 - Yulia Tymoshenko is named Prime Minister of Ukraine.
- 30 January - The people of Iraq vote in elections to choose 275 members of the inaugural Iraqi National Assembly.
February
- 8 February - In Denmark, the centre-right coalition of Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen is returned to power in a General Election, defeating the Social Democrats under Mogens Lykketoft.
- 16 February - In the United States, the school board in Staunton, Virginia voted to continue classes in Weekday Religious Education. This was a milestone in the issue of Separation of church and state in the United States.
- 20 February - Spain approves the European Constitution in a consultative referendum, though with a low turnout of 42%.
April
- 4 April - Askar Akayev resigns as President of Kyrgyzstan following weeks of popular unrest.
- 24 April - Presidential elections in Togo return Faure Gnassingbe to power two months after he was installed by the military following the death of his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema.
May
- 5 May - A General Election in the United Kingdom sees Tony Blair's Labour government returned to office with a reduced majority of 66.
- 18 May - The Spanish parliament completes the ratification of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe.
- 29 May - France rejects the European Constitution by 55% to 45% in a legally binding referendum, pitching the European Union into a crisis and dealing a serious blow to the ratification process.
June
- 1 June
- The United Kingdom assumes the rotating presidency of the European Union.
- The Netherlands rejects the European Constitution by 62% to 38% in a consultative referendum. The result, following closely after the French referendum on 29 May, compounds the crisis surrounding the ratification process.
July
- 10 July - Luxembourg approves the ratification of the European Constitution in a consultative referendum by 57% to 43%.
August
- 6 August - The conservative Mahmoud Ahmedinejad is sworn in as president of Iran, succeeding Mohammad Khatami.
September
- 18 September - General Election in Germany produces an inconclusive result, with a narrow majority for the Christian Democratic Union over the governing Social Democratic Party.
- 21 September - José Manuel Durão Barroso, President of the European Commission, says that the European Union will probably not have a Constitution 'for two to three years' [1].
October
- 27 October - The political establishment in France is rocked by the spread of rioting among poor immigrant communities in suburbs of the major cities.
November
- 4 November -British Work and Pensions Secretary David Blunkett resigns from the Cabinet for the second time in a year, this time over allegations of improper business dealings.
- 8 November - French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin declares a state of emergency to allow municipal authorities to cope with the rioting across the country.
- 21 November - Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister of Israel, resigns from the governing Likud party and founds his own new movement, Kadima.
- 22 November - After weeks of negotiations, Angela Merkel is sworn in as the eighth Chancellor of Germany - the first woman and the first East German to hold the post - succeeding Gerhard Schröder.
- 23 November - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki dismisses his entire Cabinet after losing a key referendum on constitutional reform.
December
- 6 December - David Cameron becomes the 26th Leader of the British Conservative Party
- 15 December - Parliamentary elections are held in Iraq.
- 17 December - Evo Morales wins the presidential elections in Bolivia, ousting incumbent Eduardo Rodriguez and becoming the country's first indigenous leader.
Deaths
- January 1- Shirley Chisholm, first black woman elected to the U.S. Congress (b. 1924)
- January 1- Robert Matsui, Member of the U.S. Congress from Sacramento, California (b. 1941)
- January 4 - Ali al-Haidri, Governor of Baghdad
- January 10 - James Forman, American civil rights activist (b. 1928)
- January 17 - Zhao Ziyang, reformist Premier of the People's Republic of China and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (b. 1919)
- February 2 - Zurab Zhvania prime minister of Georgia, is suffocated in a gas leak at a friend's home.
- February 6 - Gnassingbe Eyadema President of Togo since 1967, dies of an illness.
- February 14 - Former Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafiq Hariri is assassinated in Beirut in a massive car bomb explosion.
- February 24 - Hans-Jürgen Wischnewski, German politician
- March 8 - Aslan Maskhadov rebel President of Chechnya is killed in battle with Russian troops.
- March 28 - Howell Heflin former United States senator from Alabama
- April 2 - Pope John Paul II, Head of the Roman Catholic Church and chief of state of the Vatican City dies of a long illness.
- April 6 - Rainier III Prince of Monaco since 1948, second longest-reigning head of state in the world at the time of his death.