1985 Portuguese Grand Prix, Report, Race
On lap 4, Riccardo Patrese made contact with Stefan Johansson while attempting to pass him on the inside line. Running 10th and 11th at the time, both cars were spun out into a gravel trap by the contact. Patrese was beached, and Johansson was able to rejoin the race after a delay, several positions down. Soon after, Stefan Bellof and Manfred Winkelhock made contact on track; both were able to restart their cars and rejoin the race. Numerous other small offs and spinoffs continued through the wet conditions.


1985 Portuguese Grand Prix, Report, Race
By lap 10, Ayrton Senna had pulled away from 2nd position by almost 13 seconds. Elio de Angelis, Alain Prost, and Michele Alboreto (in order) were closely contending second position, and Derek Warwick was 15 seconds behind them in 5th. Gerhard Berger and Pierluigi Martini both spun off and retired on lap 12. The top four held steady to lap 15, with Niki Lauda and Patrick Tambay in 5th and 6th, 25 seconds behind 4th place Alboreto. Keke Rosberg spun his car on track on lap 16 and it came to rest in the middle of the track, causing a local yellow. Rosberg's car was not immediately cleared, and remained on track in the same position for numerous laps.


1985 Portuguese Grand Prix, Report, Race
At 20 laps, Senna had extended his lead on his teammate de Angelis to 30 seconds, with Prost and Alboreto still close behind. The two Renaults of Tambay and Warwick were more than a minute behind Senna in 6th and 7th. Only 9 cars remained on the lead lap. Nelson Piquet pitted repeatedly around lap 25, finally retiring with a tyre issue. Rain which was already falling at the start of the race continued and got heavier.


1985 Portuguese Grand Prix, Report, Race
Near lap 30, Mauro Baldi spun out and ended on track with damage to his car, and leaving a lot of mud on the racing surface, and Alain Prost retired with damage after spinning and striking the rear of his car on the track barrier. Still in the lead, Ayrton Senna signaled to race officials along pit lane asking them to stop the race. The race was not stopped or interrupted, but did continue at an unusually slow pace because of the poor weather conditions.


1985 Portuguese Grand Prix, Report, Race
The 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix was originally scheduled for 70 laps. At the beginning of lap 67, race leader Ayrton Senna was given a 'one lap to go' indication from the race director, as the race had exceeded the prescribed two hour time limit. Senna crossed the line having led every lap of the race, and with only one other car on the lead lap, that of second place Michele Alboreto. Patrick Tambay and Elio de Angelis, both one lap down, took third and fourth. Nigel Mansell and Stefan Bellof took the final points paying positions, two laps down.


1985 Portuguese Grand Prix, Report, Race
Senna's win was his first of two in the 1985 Formula One season, and the first of what would be 41 Formula One Grand Prix victories.


1985 Portuguese legislative election
The Portuguese legislative election of 1985 took place on 6 October. The election renewed all 250 members of the Assembly of the Republic.


1985 Portuguese legislative election
In June of the same year, the then incumbent Prime Minister, Mário Soares, resigned from the job due to the lack of parliamentary support, the government was composed by a coalition of the two major parties, the center-right Social Democratic and the center-left Socialist, in what was called the Central Bloc, however this was an unstable balance of forces and several members of each party opposed such alliance.


1985 Portuguese legislative election
The new leader of the Social Democratic Party, Cavaco Silva, elected in May, was among those that never supported such alliance, and short after being elected leader of the party made the coalition fall in July. Mário Soares didn't run again and resigned as party leader, as he decided to run for the 1986 Presidential elections. The PS nominated Almeida Santos, minister of state in Soares government, as intern leader and as the party candidate for Prime Minister.


1985 Portuguese legislative election
A new election was called by the President and the Social Democrats won with a short majority and Cavaco became the Prime-Minister. The election was the first of three consecutive election victories for the Social Democratic Party. Meanwhile, a new party had been founded by supporters of the President Ramalho Eanes, the Democratic Renewal Party, led by Hermínio Martinho that surprisingly gained 45 MPs and more than one million votes in the election and became the parliamentary support of the Cavaco's government until 1987, when it removed its support, making Cavaco fall.


1985 Portuguese legislative election
The Communists and the Socialists lost votes and MPs, and the left would only return to the government ten years later, in 1995.


1985 Portuguese legislative election, Electoral system
The Assembly of the Republic has 250 members elected to four-year terms. Governments do not require absolute majority support of 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 126 (absolute majority) for both the Government's Programme to be rejected or for a motion of no confidence to be approved.


1985 Portuguese legislative election, Electoral system
The number of seats assigned to each district depends on the district magnitude. The use of 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.


1985 Portuguese legislative election, Electoral system
For these elections, and compared with the 1983 elections, the MPs distributed by districts were the following:


1985 Portuguese legislative election, Parties
The table below lists the parties represented in the Assembly of the Republic during the 3rd legislature (1983-1985) and that also partook in the election:


1985 Portuguese legislative election, Opinion polling
The following table shows the opinion polls of voting intention of the Portuguese voters before the election. Those parties that are listed were represented in parliament (1983-1985). Included is also the result of the Portuguese general elections in 1983 and 1985 for reference.


1985 Portuguese local elections
The Portuguese local elections of 1985 took place on 15 December. They were the fourth local elections in Portugal since the democratic revolution of 1974 introduced the concept of democratic local power.


1985 Portuguese local elections
The elections consisted of three separate elections in the 305 Portuguese municipalities that existed at the time, the election for the Municipal Chambers, whose winner is elected mayor, another election for the Municipal Assembly and a last one for the lower-level Parish Assembly, whose winner is elected parish president, this last was held separately in the more than 4,000 parishes around the country. This election was the first to grant a 4-years term, instead of the former 3 years. The number of members of the Municipal Assemblies and Parish Assemblies was greatly reduced in comparison with the former election.


1985 Portuguese local elections
For the first time, the Social Democratic Party achieved the majority of the voting by itself, since the coalition with the Democratic and Social Center, the Democratic Alliance, that achieved good results in 1979 and 1982 had been disbanded. Despite finishing second and losing almost 4% of the voting, the Socialist Party lost only 4 of the former 83 mayors plus the presidency achieved in coalition with the Leftwing Union for the Socialist Democracy.


1985 Portuguese local elections
The Democratic and Social Center, this time participating alone in every election, after the end of the Democratic Alliance, continued its electoral decline, gathering only 10% of the voting. Despite keeping the same number of mayors achieved in 1982, in the municipalities where it ran alone, 27, the party lost 49 presidencies achieved in coalition with the Social Democrats.


1985 Portuguese local elections
The Portuguese Communist Party and the Portuguese Democratic Movement, united in the United People Alliance, lost 1% of the voting in comparison with the election of 1982 and lost 8 mayors, gathering only 47 presidencies. However, despite losing only 1% of the voting in the elections to Municipal Assemblies, the coalition lost almost 700 assembly members, decreasing its representation to 1062 members due to the overall reduction of mandates.


1985 Portuguese local elections
The newly founded Democratic Renewal Party, achieved almost 5% of the voting and the presidency of 3 municipalities. In the elections to Municipal Assemblies it gathered almost 6% of the voting and 270 Assembly members, being the great surprise of the election.


1985 Portuguese local elections, Results, Municipal Councils, City control
The following table lists party control in all district capitals, as well as in municipalities above 100,000 inhabitants. Population estimates from the 1981 Census.


1985 Portuguese local elections, Results, Maps
The first and the second most voted parties in Municipal Councils in each district.


1985 Portuguese local elections, Results, Maps
The first and the second most voted parties in Municipal Assemblies in each district.


1985 Portuguese local elections, Results, Maps
The first and the second most voted parties in Parish Assemblies in each district.


1985 Pot Black
The 1985 Pot Black was the seventeenth edition of the professional invitational snooker tournament, which took place in December 1984 but was broadcast in 1985. The tournament was held at Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham, and featured sixteen professional players in a knock-out system. All matches until the semi-final were one-frame shoot-outs, the semi-final was aggregate score of two frames and the final being contested over the best of three frames.


1985 Pot Black
Broadcasts were on BBC2 and started at 21:00 on Tuesday 8 January 1985  David Icke took over from Alan Weeks as presenter with Ted Lowe remaining as commentator and John Williams as referee.


1985 Pot Black
Debuts include John Parrott and Neal Foulds who previously played in Junior Pot Black and Bill Werbeniuk. Doug Mountjoy won the event, his thirteenth professional title, beating Jimmy White 2–0 in the final. This was also Mountjoy's second Pot Black title; previously, he had won the 1978 edition.


1985 Prague Skate
The 1985 Prague Skate was held in November in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles and pair skating. The competitions consisted only of a short program (Friday, 8 November) and free program (Saturday, 9 November). The exhibitions took place on Sunday, 10 November.


1985 Preakness Stakes
The 1985 Preakness Stakes was the 110th running of the Preakness Stakes thoroughbred horse race. The race took place on May 18, 1985, and was televised in the United States on the ABC television network. Tank's Prospect, who was jockeyed by Pat Day, won the race by a head over runner-up and favorite Chief's Crown. Approximate post time was 5:41 p.m. Eastern Time. The race was run over a fast track in a final time of 1:53-2/5. The Maryland Jockey Club reported total attendance of 81,235, this is recorded as second highest on the list of American thoroughbred racing top attended events for North America in 1984.


1985 President's Cup Football Tournament
The 1985 President's Cup International Football Tournament (Korean: 제15회 대통령배 국제축구대회) was the 15th competition of Korea Cup. The competition was held from 1 to 8 June 1985, and was won by South Korea for the ninth time, who defeated South Korea B in the final. It attracted a total of 176,000 spectators.


1985 Pretty Polly Classic
The 1985 Pretty Polly Classic  was a women's tennis tournament played on indoor carpet court at the Brighton Centre in Brighton, England that was part of the 1985 Virginia Slims World Championship Series. It was the eighth edition of the tournament and was held from 21 October until 27 October 1985. First-seeded Chris Evert-Lloyd won the singles title and earned $32,000 first-prize money.


1985 Pretty Polly Classic, Finals, Doubles
Lori McNeil /  Catherine Suire defeated  Barbara Potter /  Helena Suková 4–6, 7–6, 6–4


1985 Primera División de Chile
The 1985 Campeonato Nacional was Chilean football league top tier's 53rd season. Cobreloa was the tournament's champion, winning its third title.


1985 Primera División de Fútbol Profesional
The 1985 Primera División de Fútbol Profesional season 25, 1985. At the end of the regular season, the top 4 teams took part in the final group stage. Atletico Marte, the best regular season team, won the championship match against Alianza, the best team in the final group.


1985 Primera División de Fútbol Profesional, List of foreign players in the league
This is a list of foreign players in 1985 Seasons. The following players:


1985 Primera División de Fútbol Profesional, List of foreign players in the league
(player released mid season) (player Injured mid season) Injury replacement player


1985 Princeton Tigers football team
The 1985 Princeton Tigers football team was an American football team that represented Princeton University during the 1985 NCAA Division I-AA football season. Princeton tied for second in the Ivy League.


1985 Princeton Tigers football team
In their first year under head coach Ron Rogerson, the Tigers compiled a 5–5 record and were also even on points, scoring 212 and allowing 212. Anthony P. DiTommaso and James G. Petrucci were the team captains.


1985 Princeton Tigers football team
Princeton's 5–2 conference record tied for second-best in the Ivy League standings. The Tigers outscored Ivy opponents 127 to 96.


1985 Princeton Tigers football team
Princeton played its home games at Palmer Stadium on the university campus in Princeton, New Jersey.


1985 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
The 1985 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe was a horse race held at Longchamp on Sunday 6 October 1985. It was the 64th running of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.


1985 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
The winner was Rainbow Quest, a four-year-old colt trained in Great Britain by Jeremy Tree. The winning jockey was Pat Eddery. Sagace finished first by a neck from Rainbow Quest with Kozana two lengths away in third. After a steward's inquiry and an objection from the rider of the runner-up, the places of the first two horses was reversed.


1985 Prize of Moscow News
The 1985 Prize of Moscow News was the 20th edition of an international figure skating competition organized in Moscow, Soviet Union. It was held December 4–8, 1985. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating and ice dancing. Soviet skaters swept the men's podium, led by world champion Alexandre Fadeev. American Caryn Kadavy won the ladies' category ahead of Anna Kondrashova. Olympic bronze medalists Larisa Selezneva / Oleg Makarov took the pairs' title. The ice dancing event featured Olympic medalists Natalia Bestemianova / Andrei Bukin and Marina Klimova / Sergei Ponomarenko, who would take gold and silver respectively.


1985 Pro Bowl
The 1985 Pro Bowl was the NFL's 35th annual all-star game which featured the outstanding performers from the 1984 season. The game was played on Sunday, January 27, 1985, at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii before a crowd of 50,385. The final score was AFC 22, NFC 14.


1985 Pro Bowl
Chuck Noll of the Pittsburgh Steelers led the AFC team against an NFC team coached by Chicago Bears head coach Mike Ditka. The referee was Chuck Heberling.


1985 Pro Bowl
Mark Gastineau of the New York Jets was named the game's Most Valuable Player. Players on the winning AFC team received $10,000 apiece while the NFC participants each took home $5,000.


1985 Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership elections
In 1985, the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party held two leadership elections: one in January, and one in November.


1985 Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership elections, January Convention, Background
The January convention was held at the CNE Coliseum at Exhibition Place in Toronto to choose a replacement for William Davis, who had served as Ontario PC leader and Premier of the province of Ontario since 1971. Davis had been expected to call an election to seek a further mandate from the voters, but surprised pundits by retiring from political life instead.


1985 Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership elections, January Convention, Background
Four of Davis's cabinet ministers announced their intentions to seek the leadership: Frank Miller, Dennis Timbrell, Larry Grossman, and Roy McMurtry. Grossman and McMurtry were considered to be Red Tories who would continue in the tradition of moderate government maintained by Davis and his predecessor as leader and premier, John Robarts. Miller was supported by the right wing of the party, who believed that he would take a more aggressive approach to reducing the size of the provincial government. Timbrell was viewed as being a centrist.


1985 Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership elections, January Convention, Background
In initial candidate debates, few differences in policy emerged. Instead the differences manifested in political outlook. Miller, supported by 27 members of caucus, was viewed as the candidate of small town conservatism. Grossman, with 10 supporting members was the candidate of high-powered urbanity. Timbrell with 18 supporting members was seen more along the lines of the previous leader, aping Davis's pragmatic blandness. McMurtry coming in last with 8 supporting members tried to portray a populist image with links to ethnic communities.


1985 Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership elections, January Convention, Procedure
The voters at the convention consisted of delegates elected from PC riding associations, delegates elected from other PC associations such as those for women, campuses, youth and business groups, as well as ex-officio delegates such as party members who held elected office, and members of the party's executive bodies.


1985 Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership elections, January Convention, Convention
During the convention an 'Anybody But Miller' pact was a significant influence. Miller's convention speech was solid, yet unspectacular. If anything it reassured delegates who were concerned over policy gaffes made by Miller before the convention. Miller emerged with a significant lead on the first ballot which he kept through to the final ballot. As each candidate with the fewest votes was dropped after each ballot, he threw his support behind Grossman, which seemed to confirm the 'Anybody But Miller' pact theory.


1985 Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership elections, January Convention, Convention
Grossman edged out Timbrell for second place on the second ballot and, facing elimination, demanded a recount which produced the same result. After the second ballot when Timbrell threw his support to Grossman, his  supporters were more divided and enough of them voted for Miller to enable him to win the convention.


1985 Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership elections, November Convention
Following the party's poor showing in the 1985 election, the party retained power with only a slim plurality of four seats and lost their government majority status. The opposition Liberals gained the support of the third party, the New Democratic Party. The Liberals and the NDP negotiated an accord whereby the NDP agreed to support the Liberals in a new government provided that they support NDP policy initiatives. On June 26, 1985, the Liberals passed a motion of no confidence and the PCs fell from power for the first time in 44 years. Miller resigned as leader, and a new convention was called, to be held again in Toronto.


1985 Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership elections, November Convention
Timbrell and Grossman announced their intentions to run, along with Alan Pope, who had been Minister of Natural Resources in the Davis government. This time, Grossman had a clear lead going into the convention. Pope was dropped after the first ballot, and Grossman a narrow victory on the second ballot.


1985 Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership elections, November Convention, Ballot results
(Held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto on November 16, 1985.)


1985 Puerto Rico floods
The 1985 Puerto Rico floods produced the deadliest single landslide on record in North America, killing at least 130 people in the Mameyes neighborhood of barrio Portugués Urbano in Ponce. The floods were the result of a westward-moving tropical wave that emerged off the coast of Africa on September 29. The system moved into the Caribbean Sea on October 5 and produced torrential rainfall across Puerto Rico, peaking at 31.67 in (804 mm) in Toro Negro State Forest. Two stations broke their 24-hour rainfall records set in 1899.


1985 Puerto Rico floods
The rains caused severe flooding in the southern half of Puerto Rico, which isolated towns, washed out roads, and caused rivers to exceed their banks. In addition to the deadly landslide in Mameyes, the floods washed out a bridge in Santa Isabel that killed several people. The storm system caused about $125 million in damage and 180 deaths, which prompted a presidential disaster declaration. The tropical wave later spawned Tropical Storm Isabel.


1985 Puerto Rico floods, Meteorological history
The tropical wave that caused the flooding moved off the west coast of Africa on September 29. Moving westward, the system entered the eastern Caribbean Sea on October 5, although rainfall began spreading across Puerto Rico the day prior. The wave's associated convection, or thunderstorms, were amplified by an upper-level trough to its west. It was developing into a tropical cyclone while it moved across Puerto Rico. When the system's rainbands reached the mountains of southern Puerto Rico, it produced torrential rainfall, and additional precipitation occurred owing to the system's slow movement.


1985 Puerto Rico floods, Meteorological history
The most intense rainfall occurred on October 6, and on that day two stations recorded 24-hour precipitation totals exceeding 23 in (580 mm). These totals broke the 24-hour rainfall records set during the 1899 San Ciriaco hurricane, and amounted to nearly half of the annual precipitation totals. The town of Peñuelas reported very high rainfall totals in a short amount of time, including 2.75 in (70 mm) in one hour and 5.5 in (140 mm) in two hours. The highest rainfall total on Puerto Rico was 31.67 in (804 mm) in Toro Negro State Forest.


1985 Puerto Rico floods, Meteorological history
Rainfall spread across the island, and the southern half of Puerto Rico experienced totals of over 10 in (250 mm). Rainfall totals over 7 in (180 mm) spread across the United States Virgin Islands. The tropical wave later spawned a low pressure area north of Hispaniola that became Tropical Storm Isabel on October 7, a day before the rains subsided in Puerto Rico. The storm ultimately struck Florida before dissipating on October 15.


1985 Puerto Rico floods, Impact
Across Puerto Rico, heavy rains from the weather system caused river flooding and landslides. The rains most significantly affected the municipalities of Ponce, Juana Díaz, Santa Isabel, and Coamo. Several stations reported 100 year flooding, just five months after similar floods affected the island. The floods in May generally affected the northern portion of the island, and the October event generally affected southern Puerto Rico, although the town of Barceloneta experienced floods in both events. Several rivers exceeded their banks, and the Toa Vaca reservoir filled to its capacity for the second time since it was constructed in 1972.


1985 Puerto Rico floods, Impact
A flooded creek in Quebrada del Agua, near Ponce, killed 16 people. Flooding washed away the westbound bridge over the Río Coamo near Santa Isabel along San Juan–Ponce highway. At least six cars drove into an unlit 35 ft (11 m) gap in the road, killing 29 people. Four of the deaths were police officers who were trying to rescue a family from a car that was washed away. At least six bridges were washed out across the island. The floods left about 32,000 people without power, and some towns were isolated.


1985 Puerto Rico floods, Impact
The floods shut down 11 water filtration plants and 13 sewage treatment plants, which left 16 municipalities temporarily without water. Across Puerto Rico, the floods damaged 1,700 houses and destroyed another 1,300. About 50,000 people had to leave their houses for shelter across Puerto Rico. Damage was estimated at $125 million (1985 USD), and throughout the territory, the floods killed 180 people, 150 of whom lived in Ponce. Officials considered the system to be the "worst disaster" on the island since Hurricane Donna in 1960.


1985 Puerto Rico floods, Impact
Two landslides occurred near Peñuelas, collectively damaging or destroying 13 buildings.


1985 Puerto Rico floods, Impact, Barrio Mameyes
Saturated soils caused mudslides throughout Puerto Rico, although only one resulted in loss of life. In the hillside community of Mameyes, within Ponce, there was a block slide at around 3:00 am local time on October 7. A large slab of sandstone detached from a hill, moving about 250,000 cu yd (190,000 m3) of material down the hill. The intense rainfall triggered the landslide, although pre-existing conditions such as a leaking water main and poor sewage flow likely contributed to the event.


1985 Puerto Rico floods, Impact, Barrio Mameyes
The landslide destroyed about 90 houses, killing about 130 people; however, the death toll could have been as high as 300. This made it the deadliest single landslide on record in North America. Many of the homes in Mameyes were poorly built with tin and wood materials, and some were built on stilts.


1985 Puerto Rico floods, Aftermath
On October 7, Puerto Rico's governor Rafael Hernández Colón declared an islandwide state of emergency and activated 300 National Guardsmen to assist in search and rescue operations. Governor Colón sought "technical advice" from Mexico, as the country had experienced a devastating earthquake two weeks prior. The United States Coast Guard flew helicopters into flooded areas to rescue stranded residents, including 18 people along a hill in the western portion of the island. About $10 million in emergency funds was allocated by Puerto Rico's legislature, of which $1 million was distributed among the most affected families with $300 checks.


1985 Puerto Rico floods, Aftermath
The American Red Cross deployed a team of 15 people to Puerto Rico, who specialized in damage assessment, health services, or other services. After the storm, the Puerto Rico's government created a Rainfall-Runoff Alert Network, designed to predict flash flooding in advance, in conjunction with the National Weather Service, the United States Geological Survey, and the territory's Department of Natural Resources.


1985 Puerto Rico floods, Aftermath
On October 10, United States president Ronald Reagan declared 33 municipalities across Puerto Rico as disaster area. This allocated federal funding for assistance to individual families and public aid to repair public facilities. Federal Emergency Management Agency ultimately provided $63 million in aid to the territory. Puerto Ricans living in the United States raised money and collected donations for the residents on the island.


1985 Puerto Rico floods, Aftermath
Governor Colón considered turning the Mameyes neighborhood into a common grave to prevent the spread of disease outbreak. As a result, the National Guard evacuated the town, although the governor changed his mind after public outcry. Initially, a death toll of 500 people was reported, although that was "the product of the original, collective hysteria," according to the mayor of Ponce's press officer. Additionally, the number of destroyed houses was overestimated, only to be revised downward owing to before-and-after satellite images and interviews with survivors.


1985 Puerto Rico floods, Aftermath
After the Mameyes landslide, about 150 people, including National Guardsmen, worked to locate bodies with the assistance of six rescue dogs. Rescue workers also recovered 23 bodies from the collapsed bridge near Coamo. On October 13, officials halted the search for any survivors of the landslide, although workers continued to look for storm victims. On October 22, Governor Colón ordered the teams to stop searching for bodies after officials determined that there was a threat of further landslides. Workers initially had difficulty assisting the affected families due to the occurrence in early morning and the continued intensity of the rain, and as a result, only 50 bodies were recovered. Many houses around the Mameyes landslide were later demolished as they were at risk for further landslides.


1985 Puerto Rico floods, Aftermath
Governor Hernández Colón announced that a memorial would be created for the Mameyes victims at the site. Originally the memorial was known as "el Parque de la Recordación del Barrio Mameyes", literally "Park of the Remembrance of the Neighborhood Mameyes" in English. In 2011, however, residents of Ponce successfully petitioned to change the name from a park to a memorial site.


1985 Puerto Rico floods, Aftermath
Despite the high amount deaths in Puerto Rico floods, the name, "Isabel" was not retired, but was retired in the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season.


1985 Puerto Rico floods, Children drawings
Three days before the Mameyes landslide, a group of children from a nearby Head Start school were asked by their teacher to draw "whatever came to their minds". Several of them made drawings that some people see as premonitions of the disaster. Several of the drawings featured crosses, and dark earth-like colors. Some of the children died in the landslide. The drawings were handed by an unidentified teacher to Gladys Torres, administrator of public documents and Director of the Historic Archive of Ponce. They are exhibited in the Ponce Museum of History.


1985 Pukekohe 500
The 1985 Pukekohe 500 (known as the Nissan Sport 500 for sponsorship reasons) was an endurance race for Group A touring cars held at the Pukekohe Park Raceway in New Zealand on 3 February 1985. The race was the second and final round of the 1985 Nissan Sports Series. The race, held over 143 laps of the 2.841 km (1.765 mi) circuit for a total of 406 km (252 mi).


1985 Pukekohe 500
The race, held a week after the Wellington 500, was won by New Zealand drivers Neville Crichton and Wayne Wilkinson driving a BMW 635 CSi from the Tom Walkinshaw Racing Rover Vitesse of Tom Walkinshaw and Win Percy with Kiwis Neal Lowe and Kent Baigent finishing third in their BMW 635.


1985 Pukekohe 500
After finishing third in Wellington, the win saw Crichton and Wilkinson as co-winners of the Nissan Sports Series.


1985 Pukekohe 500
The Nissan Sport Series was run to the FIA's international Group A rules and provided a number of Australian teams, including the famed Holden Dealer Team, to get some racing laps in their new cars before the 1985 Australian Touring Car Championship after changing from the locally developed Group C rules at the end of 1984.


1985 Purdue Boilermakers football team
The 1985 Purdue Boilermakers football team represented the Purdue University in the 1985 Big Ten Conference football season. Quarterback Jim Everett led the nation in total offense (3,589 yards), which was also a school record, since broken by Drew Brees. Everett finished sixth in balloting for the Heisman Trophy.


1985 Quebec general election
The 1985 Quebec general election was held on December 2, 1985, to elect members of the National Assembly of the Province of Quebec, Canada. The Quebec Liberal Party, led by former premier Robert Bourassa, defeated the incumbent Parti Québécois, led by Premier Pierre-Marc Johnson.


1985 Quebec general election
This election marked the comeback of Robert Bourassa, whose political career had been thought to be over after losing the 1976 general election and resigning as Liberal leader. However, Bourassa personally failed to win his own seat in the Bertrand electoral district, and had to run in a by-election one month later in the safe Saint-Laurent electoral district. The 1985 Quebec general election result produced by far the largest majority of any Canadian legislative election (in terms of the number of seats) by a winning party whose leader failed to win his own seat.


1985 Quebec general election
Johnson, son of former Union Nationale premier Daniel Johnson Sr. was unable to revive the PQ's fortune after he succeeded René Lévesque as party leader and premier. Pierre-Marc's brother, Daniel Johnson Jr., later became leader of the Liberal Party and briefly served as premier.


1985 Quebec general election
This election was the last contested by the Union Nationale. It only ran candidates in 19 ridings, none of whom came close to being elected. The party would be wound up by election authorities in 1989.


1985 Quebec municipal elections
Several municipalities in the Canadian province of Quebec held municipal elections to elect mayors and councillors on November 3, 1985.


1985 Quebec municipal elections
Municipal elections were not held in Montreal, Quebec's largest city, in this electoral cycle. The previous municipal election in Montreal took place in 1982 and the next was scheduled for 1986.


1985 Quebec municipal elections, Results (incomplete), Verdun
Former Liberal Party of Canada Member of Parliament (MP) Raymond Savard was elected to his first term as mayor in the on-island Montreal suburb of Verdun, narrowly defeating Georges Bossé in a crowded field. Bossé's Municipal Action Party won six seats on council, as opposed to only four for Savard's Verdun Citizens' Movement. Former Liberal cabinet minister Bryce Mackasey was defeated in his bid for a council seat.


1985 Quebec municipal elections, Results (incomplete), Verdun
One of the leading issues in this election was the proposed annexation of Verdun into the city of Montreal. The Verdun Unity Party supported this position and was rejected at the polls; all of the party's candidates, including three incumbent councillors, were defeated. Incumbent councillor Robert Filiatraut was re-elected as a candidate of the Verdun Anti-Annexation Party. Nuns' Island (Division 1) was an outlier in this election, with a pro-annexation independent candidate winning an overwhelming victory.


1985 Quebec municipal elections, Results (incomplete), Verdun
Party colours in the results listed below have been randomly chosen and do not indicate affiliation with or resemblance to any municipal, provincial, or federal party.


1985 Quebec municipal elections, Results (incomplete), Verdun
Source: "Final results for Verdun, Hudson, Montreal East," Montreal Gazette, 5 November 1985, A6.


1985 Quebec school board elections
The Canadian province of Quebec held school board elections on December 9, 1985, to elect new trustees to Catholic and Protestant school boards. Many candidates were elected without opposition, and turnout was generally low.


1985 Quebec school board elections
Outside of the island of Montreal, one-third of all trustees were elected each year on a rotating basis.


1985 Quebec school board elections, South Shore
Turnout on the south shore of Montreal was especially low, with estimates ranging from between three and ten per cent.


1985 Quebec school board elections, Notes
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1985 Queen's Birthday Honours (Australia)
The 1985 Queen's Birthday Honours for Australia were announced on Monday 10 June 1985 by the office of the Governor-General.


1985 Queen's Birthday Honours (Australia)
The Birthday Honours were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part of the Queen's Official Birthday celebrations during the month of June.


1985 QwaQwa legislative election
Parliamentary elections were held in QwaQwa in 1985. The result was a victory for the Dikwankwetla Party.


1985 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards
The 1985 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards (Chinese: 1985年度十大中文金曲得獎) was held in 1985 for the 1984 music season. This is the first ceremony to offer the "Golden Needle Award".


1985 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards, Top 10 song awards
The top 10 songs (十大中文金曲) of 1985 are as follows.


1985 Railway Cup Hurling Championship
The 1985 Railway Cup Hurling Championship was the 59th staging of the Railway Cup since its establishment by the Gaelic Athletic Association in 1927. The cup began on 27 January 1985 and ended on 18 March 1985.


1985 Railway Cup Hurling Championship
On 18 March 1985, Munster won the cup after a 3-06 to 1-11 defeat of Connacht in the final at Semple Stadium. This was their 37th Railway Cup title overall and their second title in succession.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot
In 1985, a group of high-ranking Rajneeshees, followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (later known as Osho), conspired to assassinate Charles Turner, the then-United States Attorney for the District of Oregon. Rajneesh's personal secretary and second-in-command, Ma Anand Sheela (Sheela Silverman), assembled the group after Turner was appointed to investigate illegal activity at the followers' community, Rajneeshpuram. Turner investigated charges of immigration fraud and sham marriages, and later headed the federal prosecution of the 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack in The Dalles, Oregon.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot
The conspirators included: Ma Anand Sheela; Sally-Anne Croft, Chief Financial Officer of Rajneeshpuram; Susan Hagan, head of security at Rajneeshpuram; Catherine Jane Stork, who bought weapons and silencers and volunteered to be the actual murderer; Ann Phyllis McCarthy, fourth-in-command of Rajneeshpuram; and co-conspirators Alma Potter, Carol Matthews, Phyllis Caldwell, and Richard Kevin Langford. Two of the conspirators obtained false identification to purchase handguns out-of-state, stalked Turner, and planned to murder him near his workplace in Portland, Oregon. The assassination plot was never carried out and was only discovered later, as a result of the investigation by federal law enforcement into the bioterror attack in The Dalles and other illegal acts by the Rajneeshpuram leadership.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot
Prosecution of the conspirators began in 1990, when a federal grand jury brought indictments against several of the key players. Some had fled the country, and extradition proceedings against the perpetrators and subsequent prosecution and conviction was not completed for sixteen years. The final conspirator was convicted in 2006, when Catherine Jane Stork agreed to return to the United States from Germany in order to be allowed to visit her terminally ill son in Australia.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot
Eight perpetrators received sentences ranging from five years' probation to five years in federal prison and an additional member of the Rajneesh commune pleaded guilty to murder conspiracy. Rajneesh was never prosecuted in relation to the conspiracy, and left the United States after pleading guilty to immigration fraud and agreeing not to reenter the country without permission from the U.S. Attorney General.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Planning, Hit list
Seven followers (called Rajneeshees) of charismatic leader Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (now known as Osho), were convicted of a 1985 conspiracy to assassinate Charles Turner, and an additional unindicted eighth member of the Rajneesh commune pleaded guilty to murder conspiracy. The perpetrators were high-ranking followers within the Rajneeshee organization. Prosecutors in the case stated that the perpetrators had planned to murder Turner after he was appointed to head an investigation into the group's activities in Rajneeshpuram, Oregon.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Planning, Hit list
Turner's investigation focused on sham marriages organized by the group, as well as other illegal activities including immigration fraud, and he later headed the federal prosecution relating to the 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack in The Dalles, Oregon. Oregon Attorney General Dave Frohnmayer was also involved in investigations of the group, working alongside Turner.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Planning, Hit list
In May 1985, Rajneesh's personal secretary and second-in-command, Sheela Silverman (Ma Anand Sheela), gathered the leader's key followers and formed a group of conspirators in order to consider what to do with the growing concern of Turner's continuous involvement with the Ranch. Sheela stated that Turner's grand jury investigation "threatened the existence of the commune", and exposed Rajneesh and several of his disciples to criminal prosecution. Sheela hoped that by removing Turner's influence they would be able to thwart the federal immigration investigation which could have resulted in deportation of Rajneeshee leaders.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Planning, Hit list
Three former leaders of the commune including Ma Anand Sheela, Dianne Yvonne Onang (Ma Anand Puja), a registered nurse from the Philippines who managed the Rajneeshee medical corporation, and former treasurer of Rajneesh Foundation International and Catherine Jane Stork (Ma Shanti Bhadra) of Australia, put together a hit list which included U.S. Attorney Charles Turner and Oregon Attorney General David Frohnmayer.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Planning, Hit list
Susan Hagan (Ma Anand Su), a top official in the Rajneeshpuram hierarchy, was also a participant in the assassination conspiracy. Hagan was in charge of the security force at Rajneeshpuram, ran the Rajneesh Investment Corporation, and supervised construction on the commune. Other conspirators in the assassination plot included Ann Phyllis McCarthy (Ma Yoga Vidya), president of the Rajneesh commune, and Alma Potter (Ma Dhyan Yogini), Ma Anand Sheela's bodyguard and traveling companion. Potter was manager of the Hotel Rajneesh in Portland, Oregon, and a member of the commune's security force.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Planning, Hit list
The Oregonian reported that nine people were on the hit list, including: Turner, Frohnmayer, former assistant attorney general Karen H. Green, Wasco County planning director Daniel C. Durow, Wasco County commissioner James L. Comini, investigative journalist for The Oregonian Leslie L. Zaitz, former member Helen C. Byron (Ma Idam Shunyo), who had been awarded US$1.7 million in a lawsuit against Rajneesh Foundation International, her daughter Barbara J. Byron (Makima), and Rajneesh's former secretary Laxmi Thakarsi Kuruwa (Ma Yoga Laxmi).


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Planning, Weapons
Catherine Jane Stork volunteered to be the follower who would actually murder Turner, and bought guns and silencers. Stork was known to fellow followers as Ma Shanti Bhadra, and was also one of the three "Big Mammas" in Rajneeshpuram. Sally-Anne Croft (known by followers as Ma Prem Savita), an accountant and the group's Chief Financial Officer, provided money for the purchase of weapons related to the plot.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Planning, Weapons
Phyllis Caldwell (Ma Deva Ritka) described in a federal affidavit how members of the murder conspiracy obtained handguns, referring to Catherine Jane Stork and Sally-Anne Croft: "Shanti B went down to Jesus Grove, and Savita gave us several thousand dollars to use to buy guns." Jesus Grove referred to a group of trailers where all the leaders of the Rajneesh commune resided, except for Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Planning, Weapons
Ma Anand Sheela and three other Rajneesh followers traveled to New York in the spring of 1985 to acquire false identification. According to a federal indictment, the perpetrators of the assassination plot used a false birth certificate to purchase guns. Two members of the group then traveled to Texas to purchase handguns. Caldwell stated she and Catherine Jane Stork flew to Texas to purchase guns there. They purchased five guns in Texas, but encountered difficulty purchasing handguns in Texas with out-of-state identification and traveled to New Mexico instead. Caldwell said they called back to the commune but the women were instructed "not to come back without the guns".


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Planning, Weapons
In New Mexico, they obtained false identification, and purchased several pistols. Their intention was to purchase guns which were difficult to trace. Caldwell said it was easy to obtain guns in New Mexico: "we found it was pretty easy to buy guns. All you had to do was show some identification and it was easy to get."


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Planning, Weapons
Caldwell said she and Stork went to a university library to find the identity "of someone dying very young", next went "to public records and asked for a copy of a birth certificate" and described how "we got a rent receipt book and just made up a rent receipt". "And then we were able to go to several different gun shops in Albuquerque with those two bits of identification and buy five different guns and bullets," said Caldwell. They were able to obtain one Colt .38-caliber revolver, and four Ruger .357-caliber Security-Six Magnum revolvers. The conspirators smuggled the guns into Oregon by packing them in luggage and putting the luggage on a Greyhound Lines bus. Caldwell said that she and Stork traveled by bus back to the Rajneesh commune so as to avoid airport metal detectors.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Planning, Surveillance
After obtaining guns the conspirators returned to Portland, Oregon. They rented out an apartment in Portland to serve as their base of operations for the assassination of Turner. Rajneesh follower Carol Matthews (Ma Prem Samadhi) attempted to obtain the home address of Charles Turner, as she was doing research on him and his work in order to find another way of relating to his animosity toward the commune. According to federal prosecutors Matthews obtained a college yearbook of Turner's, and learned his car's license plate number and his parking location.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Planning, Surveillance
Court records state that Matthews and an unindicted co-conspirator told officials they were conducting "a voter survey", in order to obtain Turner's route number and post office box number. The two tried repeating the story with members of the U.S. Postal Service, but the postal officials did not give them Turner's address. They then drove around Turner's neighborhood and were able to find his home by locating a sign in front of his residence that said "Turner".


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Planning, Surveillance
Matthews had pictures of Turner's residence developed; these were later obtained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) during an investigation of the Rajneesh commune, and verified after being shown to Turner. The whole process was done in order to try and meet with him to interview and determine what his concerns were, as he refused to meet with anyone at his office.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Planning, Surveillance
With this information, however, several members of the group of conspirators watched Turner's office, home and car, and discussed methods to assassinate him, hoping that his death would hinder the efforts of the federal investigation into Rajneeshpuram. Their plan was to shoot Turner in the garage of the federal office building where he worked, in Portland, Oregon, but the conspirators also debated whether to murder Turner in downtown Portland or closer to his home.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Planning, Surveillance
After spending multiple nights watching Turner's house, the conspirators decided on the parking garage because they felt it would be too risky to murder him on the drive to or from work, or in front of his home. Turner had a reserved parking spot in a federal garage underneath Terry Schrunk Plaza in Portland, Oregon. In an affidavit given to the FBI, conspirator Alma Peralta described how the perpetrators decided on the federal parking garage as the location: "Shanti Bhadra [Catherine Jane Stork] said this seems like a good place to bump this fellow off."


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Planning, Surveillance
The conspirators practiced different ways of murdering Turner. According to informant statements to law enforcement, one of the conspirators was to pretend there was car trouble, and the others would then approach Turner with their guns. Informants later told law enforcement officials that the conspirators intended to hide out at an international network of Rajneesh communes if the plan was successful.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Planning, Surveillance
According to The Oregonian the assassinations were not carried out because Ma Anand Sheela became distracted by political power plays within the Rajneesh commune and other members of the organization who were trying to remove her from her position within the group. And according to witness information, Ma Anand Sheela was persuaded not to carry out this action through conversations with Carol Matthews, who stated to her that this was not a solution in any way and would be a horrendous action.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Prosecutions, Investigation
On February 28, 1985, Congressman James H. Weaver gave a speech in the United States House of Representatives in which he asserted that the Rajneeshees were involved in the bioterror attack in Oregon. At a series of press conferences in September 1985, Rajneesh accused several of his recently departed lieutenants of involvement in this and other crimes, including the poisoning of Mike Sullivan, a Jefferson County district attorney, and asked state and federal authorities to investigate his allegations. The assassination plot was uncovered by federal law enforcement as a result of the ensuing investigation into activities at Rajneeshpuram. Turner was never physically harmed, and had retired by 1995.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Prosecutions, Investigation
The Oregonian was informed in October 1985 by federal law enforcement officials that Leslie L. Zaitz, an investigative journalist who had written a 20-part series on the Rajneesh movement in Oregon, was on a "hit list" which also included Turner and Oregon Attorney General David Frohnmayer. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Weaver prosecuted the case; the charges were first detailed at an October 1985 bond hearing in North Carolina after Rajneesh and his followers were arrested at an airport in Charlotte. Weaver said in court that followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh had plotted to assassinate Turner and Frohnmayer.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Prosecutions, Investigation
He said these allegations were reasons why releasing Rajneesh and his followers from jail would be "a clear and present danger to public officials". The guns purchased by the Rajneesh followers for the assassination plot had reportedly been dumped in a lake at Rancho Rajneesh; the lake was searched by U.S. Navy divers. Scuba divers searched the lake for two days but did not find the guns.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Prosecutions, Investigation
Joseph Greene, a U.S. immigration agent, testified in court that FBI agents had learned of the assassination plot from a member of the organization who was in a witness protection program. Greene said that members involved in the assassination plot included Ma Anand Sheela, Dianne Yvonne Onang, and Alma Peralta. The assassination plot was investigated by the FBI and the Oregon State Police.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Prosecutions, Investigation
Informants told law enforcement that, prior to her decision not to carry out the action, Ma Anand Sheela hoped Turner's death would prevent an Immigration and Naturalization Service investigation which she thought could lead to Rajneesh's arrest and deportation from the United States. Weaver stated "These attempts to assassinate public officials were because they were presenting an immigration case that might result in imprisonment" of Rajneesh. "There were not simply plans, but at least one (assassination) attempt," said Weaver at the hearing.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Prosecutions, Investigation
A grand jury investigation led by Turner brought charges of "widespread immigration fraud" against members of Rajneeshpuram. Wiretapping crimes were discovered after Ma Anand Sheela had fled the commune in September 1985. In December 1985, twenty-one followers of Rajneesh were indicted on wiretapping charges.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Prosecutions, Arrests and convictions
Chief criminal assistant U.S. attorney Baron C. Sheldahl was assigned to prosecute the charges of federal wiretapping, and a special team from the United States Department of Justice Criminal Division was tasked with prosecuting the murder conspiracy charges. Four of the perpetrators were arrested in September 1990. Catherine Jane Stork and Richard Kevin Langford were arrested in West Germany, Ann Phyllis McCarthy was arrested in South Africa, and Susan Hagan was arrested in England. In September 1990, Alma Peralta pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Prosecutions, Arrests and convictions
Peralta, who had served as Ma Anand Sheela's bodyguard and confidante, agreed to testify against the other defendants in the murder conspiracy. Under the terms of Peralta's plea agreement she received a sentence of two years in federal prison. Carol Matthews was arrested in Baden-Baden, Germany in October 1990 on charges of wiretapping and conspiracy to murder Turner, where she was held along with three other Rajneeshees. Indictments were brought against Ma Anand Sheela and six other co-conspirators by a federal grand jury in November 1990.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Prosecutions, Arrests and convictions
In April 1991, Carol Matthews and Richard Kevin Langford (Swami Anugiten) were extradited from Germany to the United States in order to appear in federal court in Portland, Oregon. Law enforcement officials from the United States Marshals Service traveled to Frankfurt, Germany and took custody of the Matthews and Langford at Rhine Main Airport. On April 15, 1991, Matthews and Langford appeared in federal court in Oregon, and both pleaded innocent to charges of conspiracy to commit murder and carrying out wiretapping.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Prosecutions, Arrests and convictions
On April 25, 1991, Richard Kevin Langford pleaded guilty in federal court to participating in the murder conspiracy plot against Turner, and in exchange he received a sentence of five years in federal prison and the dismissal of other charges against him relating to firearms and wiretapping. Langford agreed to testify against the other members of the murder conspiracy. Langford wrote on his plea agreement form: "In 1985, meetings were held at the Rancho Rajneesh ... at which time the possible killing of the United States Attorney for Oregon was discussed.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Prosecutions, Arrests and convictions
I participated in a number of these meetings and agreed with others to work toward that object." Prosecutor Timothy J. Reardon III stated that Langford had been a member of the Rajneesh commune in Oregon since it began in 1981, and that the government was able to prove he joined the murder conspiracy at a point in time after May 25, 1985.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Prosecutions, Arrests and convictions
Reardon said that Langford was a member of a group called the "Circle of 38", which was the personal security force that guarded Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, and that he had served as a weapons instructor and policeman at the commune. Langford told U.S. District Judge Malcolm F. Marsh that he had suggested that guns for the murder conspiracy could be bought in Texas, instructed the conspirators about silencers, took responsibility for the weapons while they were in the commune, and disposed of them when members of the murder conspiracy decided to flee the U.S. for Europe.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Prosecutions, Arrests and convictions
In July 1991, Carol Matthews, who did not offer any evidence against the others, entered an Alford plea indicating exactly what she did with her research, including dissuading Sheela, and was given a five-year sentence in federal court. She was the only one to serve a complete sentence and spent the longest amount of time in prison.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Prosecutions, Arrests and convictions
Catherine Jane Stork was convicted of the attempted murder of Rajneesh's physician Dr. George Meredith (Swami Devaraj) in 1986, and served almost three years in jail. After her release, agents from the FBI uncovered the plot to assassinate Turner, but Stork had already fled to Germany. She was indicted by a federal grand jury in 1990. In 1991, the German government refused to extradite Stork back to the United States.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Prosecutions, Arrests and convictions
In June 1991, U.S. prosecutors filed affidavits in the murder conspiracy case with the Higher Regional Court in Karlsruhe, Germany, as part of an attempt to extradite Catherine Jane Stork from Germany to the U.S. The affidavits stated that all of the members in the murder conspiracy plot also belonged to a group of Rajneesh followers at the Oregon commune known as "the 38", and were trained in "commando tactics using Uzi semiautomatic rifles and handguns". David Berry Knapp (known to Rajneesh followers as Swami Krishna Deva) stated in an FBI affidavit that the murder conspiracy was motivated by Ma Anand Sheela's "tremendous anger" towards Turner.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Prosecutions, Arrests and convictions
Ma Anand Sheela served 29 months in a minimum-security federal prison for charges related to assault, attempted murder, arson, wiretapping and the 1984 bioterror attack in The Dalles, and moved to Switzerland after her release from prison in 1988. The assassination conspiracy was discovered after Sheela had left the United States, and as of 1999 she was still wanted by federal law enforcement for her role in the plot, and risked extradition if she crossed the Swiss border. Switzerland declined an extradition request from the United States, and instead tried her in a Swiss court. Sheela was found guilty of "criminal acts preparatory to the commission of murder" in 1999, and sentenced to time already served.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Prosecutions, Arrests and convictions
Sally-Anne Croft and Susan Hagan were extradited from Britain in 1994, and were convicted by a jury decision on July 28, 1995, for their roles in the assassination plot. They had unsuccessfully attempted to appeal their extradition from Britain to Home Secretary Michael Howard. During their trial the prosecution presented twenty-nine witnesses, including former followers of Rajneesh who placed both women in planning meetings where they discussed murdering Turner. David Berry Knapp, the former mayor of Rajneeshpuram, testified for the government in the case and implicated Croft and Hagan in the assassination conspiracy.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Prosecutions, Arrests and convictions
Ava Kay Avalos (Ma Ava), a Rajneesh disciple, testified in the Croft case and stated that she had been part of the conspirators that plotted to assassinate Turner. In addition to Knapp and Avalos, co-conspirators Richard Kevin Langford, Phyllis Caldwell, and Alma Peralta testified in the case pursuant to conditional plea or immunity agreements. Both women were sentenced to five years in prison. Croft and Hagan did not testify during their trial. "We hashed over everything—evidence, notes, evidence, notes. I think we did an absolutely fabulous job," said one of the jurors.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Prosecutions, Arrests and convictions
At the sentencing for Croft and Hagan, the federal Judge Malcolm Marsh described them as "people of obvious goodwill who had committed an extremely serious offense against the criminal justice system." Prosecutor Tim Reardon called the conspiracy to commit assassination "a deadly serious crime aimed at the heart of the criminal justice system." Croft and Hagan were released from imprisonment at FCI Dublin, California, in April 1998, and returned to Britain.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Prosecutions, Arrests and convictions
In December 2002, Ann Phyllis McCarthy pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, and was sentenced to one year in jail and a fine of US$10,000. McCarthy had served as fourth-in-command of Rajneeshpuram, and was known by Rajneesh's followers as Ma Yoga Vidya. Turner called the one-year prison sentence "laughable." In court statements, McCarthy stated "I cannot forgive myself for not being tougher at the time," and called her time with the group "psychological torture."


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Prosecutions, Arrests and convictions
In February 2006, Stork became the last perpetrator sentenced in the political assassination plot, after ten months of negotiations with Oregon prosecutors. Stork offered to turn herself in and return to the United States after learning of her son's terminal brain tumor. Prior to sentencing, the court allowed her to travel to Australia to visit her son. In addition to charges of conspiracy to commit murder, Stork also pleaded guilty to the purchase of weapons in violation of federal firearms law. An Oregon judge sentenced her to five years' probation, and three months' time already served in a German jail.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Prosecutions, Arrests and convictions
Turner thought she should have received a harsher sentence, and commented "This was a lying-in-wait conspiracy to murder me, a presidential appointee, and for a long time I slept with a loaded gun beside my bed." Though Stork could have faced life in prison, U.S. District Judge Judge Malcolm F. Marsh thought she had "seen the error of her ways." A federal prosecutor in the case described Stork as the "MVP" of the conspiracy, and said she was the designated assassin that was set to murder Turner. After her sentencing, Stork stated: "I actually conspired to kill Mr. Turner, it is up to me alone to face this terrible truth ... No person has the right to do what I did. I'm truly sorry." Stork returned to Germany after her sentencing.


1985 Rajneeshee assassination plot, Prosecutions, Arrests and convictions
In an affidavit, Timothy J. Reardon III, lead prosecutor for the United States Department of Justice in the case, stated Ma Anand Sheela had told members of the murder conspiracy that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh had personally authorized the "necessary" murder of specific enemies of the Rajneesh commune. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh paid a fine of US$400,000, agreed to plead guilty to immigration fraud, and was deported from the United States. He agreed to leave the United States and not return unless given permission first from the United States Attorney General. Joseph T. McCann writes in Terrorism on American Soil "Nevertheless, he was never prosecuted for any of the more serious crimes perpetrated by cult members, including the salmonella poisoning."


1985 Rapel Lake earthquake
The 1985 Rapel Lake earthquake occurred on 8 April at 21:56:59 local time with a moment magnitude of 7.5 and a maximum perceived intensity of VII (Very strong). The shock was centered 75 kilometres (47 mi) southwest of Santiago, Chile, with a focal depth of 37.8 km (23 mi).


1985 Rapel Lake earthquake, Earthquake
The 9 April 1985 earthquake occurred in the same fault area as the 2010 Pichilemu earthquake, and is considered by University of Chile Seismological Service a thrust fault-type interplate earthquake.


1985 Rapel Lake earthquake, Earthquake
The earthquake, measured in the Modified Mercalli intensity, reached magnitude VI in Curacaví, La Calera, Los Andes, Peñaflor, San Antonio, Valparaíso, and Viña del Mar; and magnitude V–VI in Concón, Constitución, Curicó, La Ligua, Melipilla, Papudo, Pichilemu, Puchuncaví, Quilpué, and Villa Alemana. The earthquake was felt throughout much of central Chile from La Serena to Osorno. It was also felt in Mendoza, San Juan, San Luis, Córdoba, Tucumán, and Santa Fe provinces in Argentina. According to national radio networks, the tremors "were felt along a 1,000-mile stretch of Chile from Copiapó in the north to Valdivia in the south and across the Andes mountains in Argentina".


1985 Rapel Lake earthquake, Earthquake
Although it has been considered by the news media as an aftershock of the 3 March 1985 earthquake, according to Rosa Urrutia de Hazbún and Carlos Lanza Lazcano's book Catástrofes en Chile 1541–1992, this earthquake was a different and separate event.


1985 Rapel Lake earthquake, Earthquake
Mario Pardo, the director of the Chilean Seismological Service, told international press in April 1985 that it was "apparently an aftershock from the 3 March earthquake that killed 177 in central Chile" and that "the quake was centered in the ocean off the coast near Pichilemu, a city 100 miles southwest of Santiago".


1985 Rapel Lake earthquake, Earthquake
According to national radio networks, the tremors "were felt along a 1,000-mile stretch of Chile from Copiapó in the north to Valdivia in the south and across the Andes Mountaines in Argentina".


1985 Rapel Lake earthquake, Earthquake, Damage and effects
Two people died of heart attacks after the earthquake; one in Santiago and another in Chillán. The earthquake lasted approximately three minutes according to The New York Times.


1985 Rapel Lake earthquake, Earthquake, Damage and effects
It created damage in addition to that already caused by 3 March earthquake in the Santiago-Valparaíso area.


1985 Rapel Lake earthquake, Earthquake, Damage and effects
Hundreds of people panicked into the streets, while radio stations reported some brief power blackouts. In Valparaíso, the roof of a house collapsed, while other houses fell down in Curacaví. No injuries were reported.


1985 Rapel Lake earthquake, Earthquake, Previous events
A magnitude 8.0 earthquake was registered on 3 March 1985 offshore Valparaíso, Valparaíso Region. It reached a maximum intensity of XI on the Mercalli intensity scale. 177 people were killed, 2,575 injured, 142,489 houses were damaged and about a million people were left homeless. There was a long interruption on basic services, and the damage provoked by that earthquake was estimated to be more than 1,046 million US dollars.


1985 Redlands state by-election
A by-election was held in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland seat of Redlands on 2 November 1985. It was triggered by the death of sitting National Party member John Goleby.


1985 Redlands state by-election
The seat was retained by the National Party with the election of candidate Paul Clauson.


1985 Redlands state by-election, Background
John Goleby was elected to state parliament at the 1974 state election when he won the seat of Redlands for the National Party as part of what was a landslide win for the then National-Liberal coalition. He held the seat continuously thereafter, becoming Minister for Water Resources and Maritime Services in 1982.


1985 Redlands state by-election, Background
Goleby died in a tractor accident on his farm on 10 September 1985.


1985 Redlands state by-election, Candidates
To defend the seat the National Party chose "little known" solicitor Paul Clauson, who had joined the party only four days before he was preselected. The Liberal Party—no longer in coalition with the Nationals—chose nurseryman and landscape gardener Max Bolte as their candidate, cousin of former Victorian Premier Henry Bolte.


1985 Redlands state by-election, Candidates
But the chief opponent for the National Party was the Labor Party, who had last held the seat in 1974. They chose local solicitor Con Sciacca, who had been twice defeated by Goleby as the Labor candidate for Redlands at the 1977 state election and 1980 state election. Sciacca defeated two other candidates vying for Labor preselection, one of whom was state party secretary Peter Beattie. Beattie would later enter parliament as the member for Brisbane Central at the 1989 state election as serve as Premier of Queensland from 1998 to 2007. It was said that the preselection drama did Labor no favours at the start of the campaign.


1985 Redlands state by-election, Campaign
The campaign was dominated by several issues. Firstly, the National government promised or proposed a nursing home, a $3 million 40-bed hospital, extra police and a $12.1 million rail link to Cleveland during the campaign. The Labor and Liberal parties, meanwhile, focused on the various issues which had dogged the government over preceding months. Other factors were the Liberals' determination, after their relegation to minor party status at the 1983 election, to revive their own fortunes, and several industrial relations disputes which had taken place during the year.


1985 Redlands state by-election, Aftermath
Clauson was re-elected to a full term at the 1986 state election, after which he became Attorney-General and Minister for Justice. He was defeated at the 1989 state election.


1985 Redlands state by-election, Aftermath
Labor candidate Con Sciacca won election to the Australian House of Representatives at the 1987 federal election for the overlapping federal seat of Bowman. Sciacca served as Minister for Veterans' Affairs in the government of Paul Keating.


1985 Rhode Island Rams football team
The 1985 Rhode Island Rams football team was an American football team that represented the University of Rhode Island in the Yankee Conference during the 1985 NCAA Division I-AA football season. In their 10th season under head coach Bob Griffin, the Rams compiled a 10–3 record (5–0 against conference opponents), won the conference championship, and lost to Furman in the NCAA Division I-AA Quarterfinals.


1985 Rice Owls football team
The 1985 Rice Owls football team was an American football team that represented Rice University in the Southwest Conference during the 1985 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their second year under head coach Watson Brown, the team compiled a 3–8 record.


1985 Rockhampton state by-election
A by-election was held in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland seat of Rockhampton on 16 February 1985. It was triggered by the resignation of sitting Labor member Keith Wright.


1985 Rockhampton state by-election
The seat was retained by the Labor Party with the election of candidate Paul Braddy.


1985 Rockhampton state by-election, Background
Keith Wright was first elected to state parliament at the 1969 state election as the Labor member for Rockhampton South, retaining the seat at the 1972 state election when the district was renamed Rockhampton. Wright held Rockhampton continuously thereafter, becoming Leader of the Opposition on 20 October 1982. After leading his party to defeat at the 1983 state election, at which his own support in Rockhampton had slipped by 6% despite statewide gains by his party, Wright was replaced as leader on 29 August 1984 by Nev Warburton.


1985 Rockhampton state by-election, Background
Wright resigned from state parliament on 5 November 1984 to contest the 1984 federal election. The following month he was elected as member for the overlapping federal seat of Capricornia.


1985 Rockhampton state by-election, Background
The Nationals made a determined effort to win the seat, as it would extend their base in the provincial cities zone. The by-election coincided with a major industrial dispute within the state's power industry between the government and the trade union movement.


1985 Rockhampton state by-election, Results
Normally a safe seat for the Labor Party, it was retained by new candidate Paul Braddy. The result was nonetheless a boost for new Labor leader Nev Warburton and a blow to the governing Nationals, who might have hoped that the ongoing industrial dispute between the government and the state's power industry workers would hurt the Labor Party.


1985 Romanian legislative election
Parliamentary elections were held in the Socialist Republic of Romania on 17 March 1985. The Front of Socialist Unity and Democracy (FDUS), dominated by the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) and including other mass organisations, was the only group to contest the elections, and no prospective candidate could run for office without the Front's approval. Consequently, FDUS candidates won all 369 seats in the Great National Assembly, also ensuring the rubber-stamp confirmation of Nicolae Ceaușescu as President of Romania. The Assembly which elected him included several members of the Ceaușescu family, namely his wife Elena, son Nicu, and brother Ilie. Continuity was also ensured by other incumbents, including Nicolae Giosan as Assembly chairman and Constantin Dăscălescu as Prime Minister.


1985 Romanian legislative election
These elections also widened the contrast between Romania and other countries of the Eastern bloc, since the Soviet Union embraced liberalisation during the same year. Ceaușescu was by then widely unpopular due to his policy of cutting down on consumer supplies, which served his project of repaying the foreign debt. Popular discontent was contrasted by a massive PCR recruitment drive, as well as by the official approval of gender equality, which saw 30% of Assembly seats going to women. The communists' full hold on power was contested by an underground National Peasants' Party, with Ion Puiu trying and failing to present himself as an opposition candidate. Protests by Romanian dissidents continued over the subsequent Assembly term, reaching an early peak with the Brașov rebellion of 1987.


1985 Romanian legislative election
The 1985 legislature was the last single-party one to be held nationally in Romania. The 1985 vote was followed by an early election for the Assembly seats of Tulcea County in 1987, which produced more signals of a coming unrest. The elected legislature never completed its five-year term, as the Communist Party was finally defeated and dissolved during the Romanian Revolution of 1989. The presidential couple was tried and executed during the events, while some members of the legislature and cabinet were singled out for their crimes and all spent time in prison, where Giosan died. Other former Assembly members were recovered in post-1989 politics, including Ilie Verdeț, who established a Socialist Party of Labour.


1985 Romanian legislative election, Background
The election took place during the regime's effort to conceal its non-democratic nature by a massive recruitment into the PCR. As summarised by journalist Alexander Clapp: "The fusion of party and state came to resemble the substitution of the state by the party, which expanded beyond all proportion: by 1985 its membership was approaching some four million—one in four adults, one in three working Romanians, the largest political party per population in the world." The PCR also officially endorsed a drive for more gender equality, which increased the proportion of female party members to 23%. Women were also 35% of successful candidates in 1985.


1985 Romanian legislative election, Background
Such gender quotas are dismissed by researchers as a facade. Historian Zoe Petre links them to national communism and to "Ceaușescu's personal phantasms", wherein "quantitative quotas of 'female comrades' were imposed on all party and state organs." In practice, they were assigned mainly to "propaganda work", and as such preserved stereotypes about "chatty women". Similarly, political scientist Ionela Băluță finds that, among this class of female communists, "real power" could be exercised only by Elena Ceaușescu, the president's wife, and by a few other members of the Ceaușescu family.


1985 Romanian legislative election, Background
Overall, "the high percentages of women in other political structures are not indicative of their participation in decision making." According to political sociologist Emanuela Simona Gârboni, all political decisions rested with PCR males. "Encouraged and sometimes even coerced", women candidates were often unsuited for the task, meaning that "women politicians were seen as the symbol of an aggressively pursued communist propaganda."


1985 Romanian legislative election, Background
Within the communist system, the FDUS was an organism tasked with vetting all candidacies; it was chaired by Ceaușescu, who was both national president and PCR general secretary. Under the 1965 Constitution which established a socialist republic, electoral freedoms were nominally ensured, but "the right to nominate candidates belonged to the PCR, as well as to all labor unions, cooperatives, youth and women's leagues, cultural associations, and other mass organisations." As surmised by sociologist Mircea Kivu, the leaders of the main religious organisations were also included on the ballot, being automatically awarded parliamentary seats. Created on this basis, the FDUS, described by Kivu as "something like an enlarged Communist Party", also nominated the Central Electoral Commission and counted the votes.


1985 Romanian legislative election, Background
Candidates were elected in single-member constituencies, and had to receive over 50% of the vote. If no candidate passed this threshold, or if voter turnout in the constituency was less than 50%, re-runs were held until the requirements were met. Under "internal democracy" laws passed in 1972–1974, several candidates could compete over one seat, though some precincts still presented only one candidate. The most common formula involved two FDUS candidates running against each other. Participants only had the option of voting against all or any of the candidates.


1985 Romanian legislative election, Background
This was done by crossing out the name of the candidate, or any of the names on a closed list; crossing out all names was an effective blank ballot. By contrast, leaving all names intact was interpreted as an approval of all candidates, and as such a valid vote. As argued by Kivu, the expectation from a committed communist voter was that they never enter the voting booth, but submit a ballot upon receiving it; the same author notes that, while members of the commission were "somewhat suspicious" of those who did enter the booth, these were never reprimanded. The more common form of protest from those who took the risk was writing in slogans or obscenities. According to Kivu, the counting of ballots in the preceding election of 1980 mostly meant separating valid, blank, and defaced ballots.


1985 Romanian legislative election, Background
1985 marked a slump in the regime national and international prestige. It inaugurated massive cuts in consumer supply and saw Ceaușescu's positioning as an anti-Soviet asset threatened by the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev. Constantin Dăscălescu had replaced Ilie Verdeț as Prime Minister in May 1982 (and continued to head the PCR cabinet to 1989). This change of course was ordered by Ceaușescu, reportedly because Verdeț had sought to prevent the rationing of bread, or more generally because he would not immediately enforce the president's various commands.


1985 Romanian legislative election, Background
Dăscălescu's loyalty was tested in 1983, when, like Ceaușescu himself, he refused to recognize that design flaws at Teleajen Refinery had caused the death of 28 employees. Meanwhile, his civilian ministries were being kept in check by Romania's intelligence agency, the Securitate, which, in 1984, demoted a head of the Religious Affairs Department, Ion Roșianu, who was allegedly trafficking in influence.


1985 Romanian legislative election, Background
The communist status quo was being challenged by underground opposition forces, some of whom were grouped into the National Peasants' Party (PNȚ). Engineer Ion Puiu "issued a comprehensive political platform" for the PNȚ, calling on the PCR to respect constitutional guarantees and renounce its position as the vanguard party. He then attempted to present himself as a candidate in the election, which led to his arrest by authorities. Other figures associated with the group had been placed under constant Securitate surveillance.


1985 Romanian legislative election, Background
In April 1985, Securitate informant Iosif Constantin Drăgan reported that Corneliu Coposu viewed the election as "masterminded and falsified", noting that FDUS candidates in Sălaj County had received only positive votes. Werner Somerauer, a Saxon photographer and pipefitter, also protested the election in Brașov County by stealing ballots which he preserved as "historical documents". This involved stuffing an urn with papers marked: Dați-ne mai multă carne! ("Let us have more meat! ").


1985 Romanian legislative election, Results, Individual seats
A list of all elected deputies was announced on 1 April. Among the reconfirmed deputies was Nicolae Ceaușescu himself: he began his last term for 23 August, a Bucharest borough, where he had served since 1969. This category also includes his wife Elena, who began her third-consecutive (and last) term representing Pitești. Her and Nicolae's son, Nicu Ceaușescu, was reelected for the first and final time in Râmnicu Sărat. Upon reelection, he renounced his position as Assembly secretary. Agronomist Nicolae Giosan was the Assembly chairman, having served continuously in that post since July 1974. According to novelist and fellow deputy Dumitru Popescu-Dumnezeu, Giosan owed his political career to Ceaușescu, who "landed him at the Great National Assembly rostrum".


1985 Romanian legislative election, Results, Individual seats
Some party dignitaries also served renewed terms, but switched constituencies. Chairman Giosan had served in the 1980 legislature as the envoy for Căzănești, but was now sent to the Assembly by the voters of Adjud. Dăscălescu moved his constituency between two neighborhoods of Brașov, while his rival Verdeț, who only returned to a ministerial position in October 1985, lost his seat at Cluj-Napoca and became instead deputy for Bacău County. Tudor Postelnicu, who was leader of the Securitate, was reconfirmed as deputy in Videle, having previously held a seat at Băicoi.


1985 Romanian legislative election, Results, Individual seats
Other examples include deputy Premiers Ștefan Andrei (moving from Horezu to Videle), Alexandrina Găinușe (from Comănești to Oltenița), Ioan Totu (from Dragalina to Dumbrăveni), Ioan Avram (from Bucharest to Ploiești), Ioan C. Petre (from Măcin to Olt County), and Ion Dincă (from Balș to Medgidia); ministers Neculai Agachi, Emil Bobu, George Homoștean, Ion Pățan, Petre Preoteasa, Eugen Proca, Vasile Pungan, Ion Teoreanu, and Richard Gheorghe Winter began terms in Târgoviște, Craiova, Bicaz, Fălticeni, Cluj-Napoca, Lugoj, Tractorul-Brașov, Târnăveni and Negrești, respectively. Likewise, Ilie Ceaușescu took a new seat in Moreni, and engineer Suzana Gâdea moved to Piatra Neamț. Agriculturalist Vasile Bărbulescu, who was married to one of Ceaușescu's sisters, moved from Scornicești to Drăgănești-Olt.


1985 Romanian legislative election, Results, Individual seats
The party's economists Gogu Rădulescu and Ilie Văduva also changed constituencies. Rădulescu left Buzău and reemerged as the deputy for Găești, while Văduva changed precincts in Dorobanți. A senior PCR journalist, Ion Popescu-Puțuri left a seat in Călugăreni for a position in Titulescu quarter, Bucharest. Popescu-Dumnezeu and fellow novelist Ion Brad similarly changed seats—the former moved from Iași to Reghin, while the latter left Vatra Dornei for Răcari; another author, Dumitru Radu Popescu, became a Constanța deputy after having previously served in Lechința.


1985 Romanian legislative election, Results, Individual seats
While serving as deputy Premier (to October 1987), Petre Gheorghe returned to then Assembly after a ten-year hiatus, taking a seat for Bucharest. Several junior members of the high-ranking nomenklatura also took seats, with some serving their first term in the Assembly. This was the case for deputy Premiers Dimitrie Ancuța (at Deva) and Nicolae M. Ion (at Curtea de Argeș), for Timber Industry Minister Gheorghe Constantinescu (at Siret), as well as for Dumitru Alecu, elected at Novaci, who became Assembly secretary.


1985 Romanian legislative election, Results, Individual seats
Securitate general Iulian Vlad also debuted in the Assembly for Domnești, while philosopher Dumitru Ghișe became a first-time deputy at Iași. New female deputies included physician Veronica Ciobăneanu (elected at Adamclisi, she became Romania's head delegate to the Inter-Parliamentary Union) and trade unionist Lina Ciobanu (elected at 1 Mai, Bucharest). Also elected for the first time, in Buzău County, Maria Lazăr was sworn in as the Assembly's vice president.


1985 Romanian legislative election, Aftermath, Incomplete term
The legislature reconfirmed Nicolae Ceaușescu as president, following a motion submitted by FDUS vice president (and Timișoara deputy) Manea Mănescu. Official communiques noted that support for the candidacy was "unanimous and enthusiastic", with Ceaușescu seen as "the most beloved son of the Romanian people". Propaganda also referred to his reelection as a "sure guarantee for pursuing the magnificent program of creating a multilaterally developed socialist society and of advancing Romania toward communism." As noted by Coposu, voting was a show of hands, and chairman Giosan never allowed delegates to vote against the incumbent. Mircea Kivu believes government recognised that there had been a relative drop in support for the FDUS, from 98.5% in 1980, to 97.7% in 1985, which allegedly prompted it to modify the 1974 electoral law, and submit new rules for the Assembly election of 1990.


1985 Romanian legislative election, Aftermath, Incomplete term
Dăscălescu's cabinet had an unusually long lifespan by Ceaușescu-era standards, which, historian Adrian Cioroianu believes, underscores the fact that the Prime Minister, alongside ministers Bobu and Rădulescu, was a Ceaușescu favorite. Silviu Brucan, the communist-turned-dissident, viewed Dăscălescu as a prototype of the "servile politician". A government reshuffle only occurred in July 1988, when Văduva was sacked from the Foreign Trade Ministry and Dăscălescu threatened with demotion. Like previous government reshuffles, this rested on Ceaușescu's dissatisfaction with his ministers. In this case, the issue was with Văduva's agreement to import and store chemical waste at Sulina.


1985 Romanian legislative election, Aftermath, Incomplete term
The regime continued to lose endorsements from regular Romanians, as it persisted with cutbacks, with Ceaușescu insisting on spending all available state funds on repaying the foreign debt. Upon reducing central heating in 1986, he lectured the PCR Central Committee: "there's no shame in us wearing sweaters inside the house, especially at night". Interest in Soviet liberalisation, as expressed in the Soviet policies of Glasnost and Perestroika, was maintained by Radio Moscow, which expanded its news coverage in Romanian. Over those months, local intellectuals became enthusiastic about the: as reported by a Securitate informant in 1985, Romanian writers hoped that Gorbachev would bring his liberalisation to Romania to reintroduce "modesty in public life" and eliminate censorship.


1985 Romanian legislative election, Aftermath, Incomplete term
Later in 1985, a Romanian Democratic Action was founded by 13 pseudonymous activists, who began monitoring the regime's record on ecology while also expressing full support for Perestroika. At that stage, the authorities clamped down on dissent by ordering the arrest and killing of engineer Gheorghe Ursu, who was keeping a diary critical of Ceaușescu. As noted by political historians Cristina and Dragoș Petrescu: "The 'Ursu case' deepened the conviction that all those who dared to express such views would end in the same way.


1985 Romanian legislative election, Aftermath, Incomplete term
However, this was just an extreme case since none of the radical dissidents of the 1970s and the 1980s died in prison or during interrogation." The PNȚ remained active internally and, in February 1987, Coposu obtained its recognition by, and admission into, the Christian Democrat World Union. Puiu was rearrested in May 1987, after attempting to send Gorbachev a memorandum, but the Securitate was unable to prevent other protest documents from being circulated at home and abroad.


1985 Romanian legislative election, Aftermath, Incomplete term
The Brașov rebellion, which erupted that November, was probably caused by Dăscălescu's decision to punish workers at Steagul Roșu for design flaws attributable to poor management. It resulted in large-scale repression, with the arrest of dissenting workers; hundreds were interrogated, and 62, including Somerauer, were deported to various locations in Romania. During the final days of that year, the Securitate detained Gabriel Andreescu, who championed human rights in opposition to the regime, and held him until January 1988. Also in November, there were early elections in Tulcea County, which witnessed a resumption of critical and obscene messages on ballots. One anonymous voter suggested that Ceaușescu's approval of power cuts showed that he was mentally ill, and therefore ineligible, while another warned of a coming revolt.


1985 Romanian legislative election, Aftermath, Revolution
Although the anti-communist movement had been suppressed during and after the election, the 1985 legislature was the last to be voted in under a single-party system. On 12 December 1989, the PCR Central Committee set the date for new elections as 11 March 1990. The Romanian Revolution, erupting five days after the resolution, began as a confrontation with the Romanian Army and Securitate, which fired on unarmed crowds. Ceaușescu threatened to resign when his orders were not fully carried out, but Premier Dăscălescu persuaded him not to leave office. Dincă organised a cover-up effort at Timișoara, sending in 20,000 Patriotic Guards. On 20 December, Dăscălescu joined him there and attempted to negotiate the regime's political survival by meeting with a revolutionary delegation; when his outreach effort failed, he supported renewed violence.


1985 Romanian legislative election, Aftermath, Revolution
The uprising eventually succeeded in toppling the regime on 21–22 December. Nicu Ceaușescu was captured early on and survived a stabbing. His uncle Ilie, who regarded the regime's clampdown as ineffective, attempted to form an emergency cabinet with Soviet support, but was ignored. Nicolae and Elena fled Bucharest during a revolutionary siege on the Central Committee. Dăscălescu was assigned by them to lead a reduced version of the Central Committee, but opted out. Upon surrendering to the revolutionaries, he decreed a political amnesty, then proclaimed his cabinet dissolved. A new cabinet, headed by deputies Verdeț and Vlad, was accepted by some of the revolutionaries, but rejected by the masses, and dissolved within 20 minutes.


1985 Romanian legislative election, Aftermath, Revolution
On 25 December, marking the accession to power of the National Salvation Front (FSN), Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu were swiftly tried and executed. As noted by academic Alexandra Ionescu, the FSN leadership regarded itself as a legal and symbolic legatee of the FDUS, in that it claimed to regroup "all the country's sane forces"; she views the FSN Council as having a "list of attributes that was nearly identical to that of the Great National Assembly."


1985 Romanian legislative election, Aftermath, Revolution
On 27 December the FSN leader, Ion Iliescu, supported the notion of leaving future elections to be managed by the Front, in order to promote "the ideas of unity and their continued realization." The FSN allowed other parties to organize—including the PNȚ, reemerging as the Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party; however, as Ionescu notes, the legalistic culture encouraged by the FSN viewed them as tolerated and second-rank forces. This trend was questioned by the opposition and overturned by electoral laws which established more equality between the competing groups, with the FSN emerging as a political party.


1985 Romanian legislative election, Aftermath, Revolution
Multi-party elections for the new Parliament of Romania were eventually held on 20 May 1990. As reported by three historians of the period, Iliescu's presidential campaign preserved some core elements of 1980s precedents, also developing into a "personality cult" with Iliescu as a stand-in for Ceaușescu. Both Iliescu and the FSN came out as victorious. There still was a continuity between the two legislatures, in that the majority of 1990 deputies had been PCR members. As many as 15% had belonged to its nomenklatura, and 10% had been Assembly deputies at various moments; like new arrivals, these were mostly males, with women representing only 5% of Romania's post-communist legislature.


1985 Romanian legislative election, Aftermath, Revolution
Some of the major figures in the previous legislature had by then been arrested. Nicu Ceaușescu was found guilty of genocide, but appealed and only served a full term for unlawful gun possession. Bobu, Dincă, Mănescu and Postelnicu were tried together, and also found guilty of genocide. While Dincă, Postelnicu and Bobu's complicity is proven, the verdict as applied to Mănescu is widely regarded as spurious, including by anti-communists. All defendants initially received life sentences, but had them commuted in 1993, when the genocide convictions were also replaced with aggravated murder or accessory to murder. Also sentenced in that context, Dăscălescu was released on medical grounds in 1995. Bobu and Dincă were conditionally released in the early 1990s, and Postelnicu followed suit in 1999.


1985 Romanian legislative election, Aftermath, Revolution
Ilie Ceaușescu lost his position in the Army and investigated, but never tried, for instigation to first-degree murder. Giosan had died in mysterious circumstances while his case was being investigated. Both Popescu-Dumnezeu and Teodor Mărieș, who were held with Giosan at Jilava prison, argue that he was in fact murdered as punishment for his political past. President Iliescu issued pardons for Vlad, in 1993, and for Popescu-Dumnezeu, in 1994. Another such pardon applied to Homoștean, who was serving time for having ordered an extrajudicial killing in 1981. At the time of his death in 2016, he was under investigation for his alleged role in Ursu's murder.


1985 Romanian legislative election, Aftermath, Revolution
In November 1990, Verdeț founded a far-left group called Socialist Party of Labour (PSM), which was joined by poet Adrian Păunescu. It won 18 parliamentary seats during the election of 1992, when it emerged as a crucial backer of the Nicolae Văcăroiu cabinet, ensuring that market liberalisation was stalled. Verdeț's party faded into political insignificance during the next electoral cycle. Maria Lazăr pursued a career in post-communist politics, joining the PSM and then the Social Democrats. She took a Chamber seat in the November 2000 election. Dăscălescu's aides Șerban Mihăilescu and Ghiorghi Prisăcaru also embraced careers within Iliescu's Party of Social Democracy.


1985 Romanian presidential election
A presidential election was held in the Socialist Republic of Romania on 29 March 1985.


1985 Romanian presidential election
Nicolae Ceaușescu was re-elected by the Great National Assembly as the President of Romania during its meeting of 28-29 March 1985; he was the only candidate.


1985 Rome and Vienna airport attacks
The Rome and Vienna airport attacks were two major terrorist attacks carried out on 27 December 1985. Seven Arab terrorists attacked two airports in Rome, Italy, and Vienna, Austria with assault rifles and hand grenades. Nineteen civilians were killed and over a hundred others were injured before four of the terrorists were killed by El Al Security personnel and local police, who captured the remaining three.


1985 Rome and Vienna airport attacks, The attacks
At 08:15 GMT, four Arab gunmen walked to the shared ticket counter for Israel's El Al Airlines and Trans World Airlines at Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport outside Rome, Italy, fired assault rifles and threw grenades. They killed 16 and wounded 99, including American diplomat Wes Wessels, before three of the attackers were killed by El Al security, while the remaining one, Mohammed Sharam, was wounded and captured by the Italian police. The dead included General Donato Miranda Acosta, Mexican military attache, and his secretary, Genoveva Jaime Cisneros.


1985 Rome and Vienna airport attacks, The attacks
Minutes later, at Schwechat Airport (Vienna International Airport) in Vienna, Austria, three terrorists carried out a similar attack. Hand grenades were thrown into crowds of passengers queuing to check in for a flight to Tel Aviv, killing two people instantly and wounding 39 others. A third victim died on 22 January 1986, of hand grenade wounds sustained in the attack. First response came from several Austrian police officers, which opened fire on the terrorists. They were supported by two EL AL security guards who helped to repel the attackers. Over 200 bullets were fired during the fight. The terrorists fled by car, and Austrian police and El Al security guards gave chase. They killed one terrorist and captured the other two.


1985 Rome and Vienna airport attacks, The attacks
In all, the two strikes killed 19, including a child, and wounded around 140. Some contemporary reports claimed the gunmen originally intended to hijack El Al jets at the airports and blow them up over Tel Aviv; others concluded that the attack on waiting passengers was the original plan and that the Frankfurt airport was meant to be hit as well.


1985 Rome and Vienna airport attacks, Perpetrators
The attacks were first blamed on the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), but its leader, Yasser Arafat, denied the accusations and denounced the strikes. The PLO asserted that the attacks were intended to force Austria and Italy into severing ties with the Palestinians.