2005 Iranian presidential election, General election, Turnout
While some members of the intellectual community in Iran supported the boycott, some key figures, residing inside Iran or exiled to Europe or North America, had asked their readers and the general population to vote in the election, reasoning that not voting in the election would result in the election of one of the three conservative candidates, who were all military people with a background in Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The most famous supporters of voting in the intellectual community included Ebrahim Nabavi, Masoud Behnoud, and Khashayar Deyhimi. These people were mostly supporting Moeen as their preferred candidate who is considered to be the least aligned with Ayatollah Khamenei, but a few have also talked or written in support of Rafsanjani or Karroubi.


2005 Iranian presidential election, General election, Turnout
After the results of the first round, many of the supporters of the boycott are now supporting Hashemi Rafsanjani, and many of the supporters of the reformist candidates, including many supporters of Moeen, are doing the same. Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF) and Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization (MIRO), as the two main parties who supported Moeen, are included, with IIPF asking for "uniting against the rise of religious fascism" and MIRO telling about the rival "Führer-istic mindset". Moeen himself has mentioned that he will not personally vote in the second round, but that his supporters "should take the danger of fascism seriously" and should not think about a boycott in the second round.


2005 Iranian presidential election, General election, Turnout
Also, Emadeddin Baghi, the President of the Iranian Association for Supporting Prisoners' Rights and one of the boycotters, has also spoken in support of Rafsanjani and mentioned that while he still considers Rafsanjani a conservative, he prefers his traditional conservatism to Ahmadinejad's fundamentalism.


2005 Iranian presidential election, General election, Turnout
Comparative to other elections, there does not seem to be any major drop in number of votes caused by boycott. The turnout in the previous election, i.e. Khatami's second term, was at 67%.


2005 Iranian presidential election, Election controversies
After the first round of the election, some people, including Mehdi Karroubi, the pragmatic reformist candidate who ranked third in the first round but was the first when partial results were first published, have alleged that a network of mosques, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps military forces, and Basij militia forces have been illegally used to generate and mobilize support for Ahmadinejad. Karroubi has explicitly alleged that Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, was involved.


2005 Iranian presidential election, Election controversies
Ayatollah Khamenei then wrote to Karroubi and mentioned that these allegations are below his dignity and will result in a crisis in Iran, which he will not allow. As a reply, Karroubi resigned from all his political posts, including an Advisor to the Supreme Leader and a member of Expediency Discernment Council, on both of which he had been installed by Khamenei. The day after, on 20 June, a few reformist morning newspapers, Eghbal, Hayat-e No, Aftab-e Yazd, and Etemaad were stopped from distribution by the general prosecutor of Tehran, Saeed Mortazavi, for publishing Karroubi's letter.


2005 Iranian presidential election, Election controversies
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the leading candidate, has also pointed to organized and unjust interventions by "guiding" the votes, and has supported Karroubi's complaint.


2005 Iranian presidential election, Election controversies
A suspicious election result pointed out by Western journalist Christopher de Bellaigue was a 95% voter turnout and first-place result for Ahmadinejad in the province of South Khorasan. This despite that region's large numbers of disgruntled Sunni Muslims, and Ahmadinejad's association with "intrusive Shia Islamism."


2005 Iranian presidential election, Election controversies
Also, some political groups, including the reformist party Islamic Iran Participation Front, have alleged that Ahmadinejad had only ranked second because of the illegal support and advertising activities for him during the voting by the supervisors selected by the Guardian Council, while the supervisors should have remained impartisan according to the election law. Also, the reformist newspaper Shargh has pointed to an announcement by Movahhedi Kermani, the official representative of the supreme leader in Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, mentioning "vote for a person who keeps to the minimum in his advertisements and doesn't lavish", which uniquely pointed to Ahmadinejad.


2005 Iranian presidential election, Election controversies
Some of the controversies involve activities of the Guardian Council such as the publishing an opinion poll before the election giving Ahmadinejad front-runner status. It also announced the partial results of the election on the day after the election, putting Ahmadinejad on the second rank while he was still in the third rank in the partial statistics published by the Ministry of Interior, which led to President Khatami going to the Ministry several times and explicitly asking the council to not announce any more partial results.


2005 Iraqi constitutional referendum
The electorate of Iraq went to the polls on 15 October 2005 to vote in a referendum on whether or not to ratify the proposed constitution of Iraq. After 10 days of counting votes, the country's electoral commission announced that the constitution had been approved by a wide margin nationwide. A number of critics allege massive irregularities, especially in the crucial province of Nineveh, which was widely expected to provide the third (and deciding) "no" vote.


2005 Iraqi constitutional referendum, Background and campaign
Article 61 of Iraq's Interim Constitution, in effect since 28 June 2004, laid down the rules for the approval of the proposed permanent constitution. The proposed constitution would have been approved in the referendum if both a majority of voters nationwide voted "yes" and there were no more than 2 of the country's 18 governorates where two-thirds of the voters voted "no." On 2 October 2005, the National Assembly weakened the second requirement such that it would only fail to be fulfilled if two-thirds of registered voters—rather than actual voters—in three governorates voted "no."


2005 Iraqi constitutional referendum, Background and campaign
Opponents of the Draft Constitution reacted angrily to this reinterpretation of Article 61 of the Interim Constitution. Critics had also pointed out that such an interpretation reads the term "voter" differently in both requirements; the first requirement is still simply fulfilled if a majority of actual voters nationwide votes yes. After much international criticism, the decision was reversed on 5 October.


2005 Iraqi constitutional referendum, Background and campaign
The possibility of veto by supermajorities of three or more governorates was originally written into the interim constitution to ensure that the permanent constitution would be acceptable to Iraq's Kurdish minority. However, support for the constitution was weakest among Iraq's Sunni Arab community, and some observers thought that the Sunni vote would result in the constitution's rejection. While the exact ethnic distribution of the Iraqi population by governorate is unknown, because the country has not had an official census for 15 years, governorates that include substantial Sunni populations include Baghdad, Al Anbar, Salah ad Din, Nineveh and Diyala. In the event, Al Anbar, Saladin, and Nineveh all saw majorities vote against ratification, though the vote in Nineveh did not result in the two-thirds "no" supermajority required to scuttle the constitution.


2005 Iraqi constitutional referendum, The Ballot
Voting took place as planned on 15 October, amidst heavy security. Initially, Iraqi election officials had hoped that results of the balloting would be made public by 19 October. On 17 October, however, election officials announced that questions concerning the turnout in some provinces required that the vote be audited, which delayed release of the final figures. A sandstorm in central Iraq has also contributed to the delay. Although Sunni politician Saleh al-Mutlaq has alleged fraud, election monitors from the United Nations said that the vote "went well."


2005 Iraqi constitutional referendum, The Ballot
On 25 October, Electoral Commission officials released the final results, which indicated that the constitution had been approved. Overall, 79% of voters backed the charter and 21% opposed it. Of 18 governorates, only two recorded "No" votes greater than two thirds—one province short of a veto. Turnout in the referendum was 63%, commission officials had said previously.


2005 Iraqi constitutional referendum, The Ballot
With the approval of the constitution, elections for a permanent government must be held no later than 15 December 2005, with the new government assuming office no later than 31 December 2005. If the constitution had been rejected, the National Assembly would have been dissolved, and a new transitional government would have been elected to attempt to write another permanent constitution.


2005 Iraqi constitutional referendum, The Ballot
During this election, security detainees held by coalition forces and the Ministry of Interior were given the opportunity to vote. This is the first time in the modern history of the Middle East that detainees of this nature were allowed to vote in any election.


2005 Iraqi governorate elections
Governorate council elections were held in Iraq on 30 January 2005, the same day as the elections for the transitional Iraqi National Assembly. Each province has a 41-member council, except for Baghdad, whose council has 51 members.


2005 Iraqi governorate elections, Basra Governorate
The council elected Fadhila member Mohammed al-Waili as governor. In April 2007, SIIC successfully brought a no-confidence motion against Waili. This dismissal was ratified by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in July.


2005 Iraqi governorate elections, Dhi Qar Governorate
The council elected Aziz Kadum Alwan al-Ogheli, a SCIRI member, as governor.


2005 Iraqi governorate elections, Diyala Governorate
The council elected Ra'ad Hameed Al-Mula Jowad Al-Tamimi, a Badr Brigades leader, as governor.


2005 Iraqi governorate elections, Kirkuk Governorate
The council re-elected Abdulrahman Mustapha Fatah as governor, who had served since the 2003 invasion of Iraq


2005 Iraqi governorate elections, Maysan Governorate
Adel Mahudar Radi, a former Mahdi Army commander, was elected governor.


2005 Iraqi governorate elections, Muthanna Governorate
The Governorate Council elected SCIRI member Mohammed Ali al-Hasani as the provincial Governor, and an Islamic Dawa Party member, Ahmad Marzouq Salal as the council president. al-Hasani was assassinated in August 2007 in an attack blamed on the Mahdi Army, and the council elected Marzouq his successor, with an SCIRI member becoming the council president.


2005 Iraqi governorate elections, Najaf Governorate
The council elected SCIRI member Asaad Abu Gilel al-Taie as governor.


2005 Iraqi governorate elections, Nineveh Governorate
The council voted for the independent Sunni Arab, Duraid Kashmoula, to continue as governor. His brother, Usama Yousif Kashmula, had been appointed as governor of Nineveh Governorate in 2003 by the Coalition Provisional Authority, and Duraid succeeded Usama after he was assassinated in July 2004.


2005 Iraqi governorate elections, Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate
The Governorate Council chose SCIRI members Khalil Jalil Hamza as the governor and Sheikh Hamid al-Khodari as council president. Hamza was assassinated in August 2007 in an attack blamed on the Mahdi Army. al-Khodari was elected to replace Hamza as governor.


2005 Iraqi governorate elections, Wasit Governorate
The council elected Latif Hamid Turfa, a Sadrist, as governor.


2005 Iraqi governorate elections, Iraqi Kurdistan region, Erbil Governorate
The council voted for Kurdistan Democratic Party member Nawzad Hadi Mawlood to become governor.


2005 Iraqi governorate elections, Iraqi Kurdistan region, Sulaymaniyah Governorate
The council elected PUK member Dana Ahmed Majid as governor.


2005 Ireland rugby union tour of Japan
2005 Ireland rugby union tour of Japan. Eleven Ireland players, including their captain Brian O'Driscoll, plus their coach Eddie O'Sullivan were included in the British & Irish Lions squad for their tour of New Zealand. As a result, the Ireland squad for this tour featured nine previously uncapped players and an interim coach.


2005 Ireland rugby union tour of Japan
This matches were the second important appointment for Japanese team, after the tour of South America in April.


2005 Ireland rugby union tour of Japan, Matches
Japan: 15.Goshi Tachikawa, 14.Daisuke Ohata , 13.Reuben Parkinson, 12.Yukio Motoki, 11.Hiroki Mizuno, 10.Kyohei Morita, 9.Wataru Murata, 8.Takuro Miuchi (capt. ), 7.Ryota Asano Inose, 6.Hare Makiri, 5.Jamie Washington, 4.Takanori Kumagae, 3.Ryo Yamamura, 2.Ken Tsukagoshi, 1.Hiroshi Takahashi,  – replacements: 17.Kenji Kasai, 18.Shigeyasu Takagi, 19.Hitoshi Ono, 20.Shota Goto, 21.Tomoaki Nakai, 22.Teppei Tomioka    –  No entry : 16.Masakazu NakabayashiIreland: 15.Girvan Dempsey, 14.Tommy Bowe, 13.Gavin Duffy, 12.Kevin Maggs, 11.Anthony Horgan, 10.David Humphreys (capt. ), 9.Peter Stringer, 8.Roger Wilson, 7.Johnny O'Connor, 6.Alan Quinlan, 5.Matt McCullough, 4.Leo Cullen, 3.Simon Best, 2.Frankie Sheahan, 1.Marcus Horan,  – replacements: 16.Bernard Jackman, 17.Reggie Corrigan, 18.Trevor Hogan, 19.Eric Miller, 20.Kieran Campbell, 21.Jeremy Staunton, 22.David Quinlan


2005 Ireland rugby union tour of Japan, Matches
Japan: 15.Goshi Tachikawa, 14.Daisuke Ohata, 13.Reuben Parkinson, 12.Yukio Motoki, 11.Hirotoki Onozawa, 10.Keiji Hirose, 9.Wataru Murata, 8.Takuro Miuchi, 7.Ryota Asano Inose, 6.Hare Makiri, 5.Takanori Kumagae, 4.Hajime Kiso, 3.Ryo Yamamura, 2.Masakazu Nakabayashi, 1.Shigeyasu Takagi ,  – replacements: 16.Ken Tsukagoshi, 17.Kenji Kasai, 18.Tomoaki Nakai, 19.Takeomi Ito, 20.Shota Goto, 21.Teppei Tomioka, 22.Ayumu Goromaru Ireland: 15.Girvan Dempsey, 14.Tommy Bowe, 13.Gavin Duffy, 12.David Quinlan, 11.Anthony Horgan, 10.David Humphreys (capt. ), 9.Peter Stringer, 8.Eric Miller, 7.David Wallace, 6.Denis Leamy, 5.Matt McCullough, 4.Leo Cullen, 3.Simon Best, 2.Frankie Sheahan, 1.Marcus Horan,  – replacements: 16.Bernard Jackman, 17.Reggie Corrigan, 18.Trevor Hogan, 19.Alan Quinlan, 20.Kieran Campbell, 21.Jeremy Staunton, 22.Kieran Lewis


2005 Irish Greyhound Derby
The 2005 Irish Greyhound Derby took place during August and September with the final being held at Shelbourne Park in Dublin on 17 September 2005.


2005 Irish Greyhound Derby
The winner He Said So won €150,000 and was trained by Tim O'Donovan, owned by Jim Hennessy & Tim O'Donovan and bred by Mick O'Donovan. The race was sponsored by the Paddy Power.


2005 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition Report
The 2005 Irish Derby was highly anticipated after the inclusion of the English Greyhound Derby champion Westmead Hawk. In addition to the ante-post favourite were the returning 2004 Irish Greyhound Derby finalists Droopys Marco and Droopys Maldini.


2005 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition Report
First round winners included Droopys Marco and Droopys Maldini both winning in 29.77 but it was Ancient Title that put the fastest run of 29.49. Ardfert Billy set the best second round time of 29.69 even though he had just finished runner up in the Irish Sprint Cup at Dundalk Stadium in between the two rounds.


2005 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition Report
Droopys Maldini defeated Westmead Hawk in an impressive third round time of 29.50 and litter brother Droopys Marco also won again. The quarter final round resulted in another win for both Droopys Maldini and Droopys Marco. Westmead Hawk finally came good winning in 29.66 and Digital won the remaining heat.


2005 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition Report
The semi-finals went to plan with Droopys Maldini once again inflicted a defeat on Westmead Hawk in a very fast 29.47, He Said So did well to qualify behind the pair. Droopys Marco took the second heat from Billy Playback, with Spiral Citrate edging Mineola Farloe for the final place in the decider.


2005 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition Report
Droopys Maldini and Droopys Marco had unblemished records going into the final, the former was installed as the hot favourite. When the traps opened He Said So, drawn in trap one, broke well but ominously Westmead Hawk made a good break, with Droopys Maldini making a poor start. He Said So went round the first bend in the lead just one length ahead of Westmead Hawk which meant that the latter looked a certainty.


2005 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition Report
However Droopys Maldini recovering from his bad start made the first bend at the same time as the others which caused a domino effect of trouble in which Billy Playback, Spiral Citrate and Westmead Hawk collided. He Said So was left clear and had a big lead from Droopys Maldini that was enough to seal a second successive 10-1 Irish Derby winner. Droopys Maldini and Droopys Marco finished second and fourth, exactly the same positions as the previous year and Westmead Hawk came home fifth with his chances ended by an uncustomary good start.


2005 Irish Masters
The 2005 Fáilte Ireland Irish Masters was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 6–13 March 2005 at the Citywest Hotel in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. This was the last time the tournament was run as a ranking event.


2005 Irish Masters
Ronnie O'Sullivan won the title by defeating Matthew Stevens 10–8 in the final.


2005 Irish Masters, Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:


2005 Irish Masters, Qualifying
Qualifying for the tournament took place between 10 and 13 January 2005 at Pontin's in Prestatyn, Wales.


2005 Irish Professional Championship
The 2005 Irish Professional Championship was a professional invitational snooker tournament which took place in October 2005. The tournament was held at the Spawell Sport & Leisure Complex in Templeogue, and featured twenty-four exclusively Irish and Northern Irish players.


2005 Irish Professional Championship
The qualifying round, last-16, quarter-final and semi-final matches were played over the best of nine frames, and the final over the best of seventeen. Joe Swail won the event, beating Ken Doherty 9–7 in the final.


2005 Ironman World Championship
The 2005 Ironman World Championship was a long distance triathlon competition held on October 15, 2005 in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii that was won by Faris Al-Sultan and Natascha Badmann. It was the 29th edition of the Ironman World Championship, which has been held annually in Hawaii since 1978. The championship was organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC).


2005 Islamabad bombing
On 27 May 2005, a suicide bombing in Islamabad, Pakistan, killed about 20 people and wounded about 150 others. The attack occurred inside the shrine of the city's patron saint, Bari Imam, which is located in Noorpur Shahan, between the city's 3rd and 4th avenues. At the time of the explosion, thousands of Sunni and Shia Muslim worshippers were attending a festival at the shrine.


2005 Islamic Solidarity Games
The 1st Islamic Solidarity Games held in the Islamic holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia from 8–20 April 2005 with an Olympic-style tournament aimed at showing Muslim sports prowess and featuring 6,000 athletes. Only men's events were included on the programme.


2005 Islamic Solidarity Games
Fifty five nations participated in the said "Islamic Olympic Games", hosted by the Saudi cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah and Ta’if.


2005 Islamic Solidarity Games
Prince Abdul Majeed bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the prince of Mecca, opened the games in a ceremony in which more than 2,600 students participated at King Abdul Aziz Stadium.


2005 Island Games
The 2005 Island Games were the 11th Island Games, and were held in Shetland, Scotland, from July 9 to July 15, 2005.


2005 Isle of Man TT
The 2005 Isle of Man TT Festival was the 98th run and took place between Saturday 28 May and Friday 10 June on the 37.73 mile (60.72 km) Mountain course. The first week (between 28 May and 3 June) is known as the practice week, before the real action was due to commence on 4 June. Bad weather meant that the Superbike race was held over until Sunday (5 June). There were only 7 races in this year because this was the first year the smaller 250 bikes & Production models did not race at the TT, instead they were replaced with Superbike, Supersport & Superstock races.


2005 Isle of Man TT
The Sidecar TT Race A, was supposed to be race 2 but due to inclement weather forced the postponement of the Superbike TT for 24 hours, the Sidecars became the first race.


2005 Isle of Wight Council election
The 2005 Isle of Wight Council elections were held on the Isle of Wight, England, on 5 May 2005. The result led to a landslide Conservative victory gaining 22 councillors, leading the Isle of Wight to Conservative control from no overall control previously.


2005 Isle of Wight Council election, Results
The outcome of the election led to a significant change in composition of the Isle of Wight Council. Prior to the election, the Liberal Democrats were the largest group overall but still didn't hold a majority, leading to a coalition known as 'Island First' with independent councillors. The election showed a fall in support for the Liberal Democrats as the Conservatives gained 23 seats and took over as the largest group with a majority of 22. Following the change in control of the Council, Cllr Andy Sutton took over with the promise that every aspect of the Conservative manifesto would be followed as they had indicated before the election. Despite this promise there has been some debate on how well the original manifesto has been followed.


2005 Istanbul Park GP2 Series round
The 2005 Istanbul Park GP2 Series round was a GP2 Series motor race held on August 20 and 21, 2005 at Istanbul Park in Istanbul, Turkey. It was the ninth round of the 2005 GP2 Series season. The race weekend supported the 2005 Turkish Grand Prix.


2005 Italian Athletics Championships
The 2005 Italian Athletics Championships was the 95th edition of the Italian Athletics Championships and were held in Brixen (track & field events).


2005 Italian Athletics Indoor Championships
2006 Italian Athletics Indoor Championships was the 36th edition of the Italian Athletics Indoor Championships and were held in Ancona for the first time.


2005 Italian Figure Skating Championships
The 2005 Italian Figure Skating Championships (Italian: Campionati Italiani Assoluti 2005 Pattinaggio Di Figura Su Ghiaccio) was held in Merano from January 7 through 9, 2005. Skaters competed in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, and ice dancing on the levels of senior and junior. The results were used to choose the teams to the 2005 World Championships, the 2005 European Championships, and the 2005 World Junior Championships.


2005 Italian Formula 3000 Championship
The 2005 Trofeo Nazionale C.S.A.I. Formula 3000 Italia was contested over 8 rounds. 9 different teams and 26 different drivers competed. In this one-make formula all drivers had to utilize Lola chassis (Lola B02/50) and Zytek engines. This season also saw a Light Class running older Lola chassis (Lola B99/50) and Zytek engines. In the Light Class 11 different drivers competed, but only one of them for the whole season.


2005 Italian Formula 3000 Championship, Calendar
All races were held in Italy, excluding round at Brno in Czech Republic.


2005 Italian Formula 3000 Championship, Final points standings, Driver, Main championship
For every race points were awarded: 10 points to the winner, 8 for runner-up, 6 for third place, 5 for fourth place, winding down to 1 point for 8th place. Additional points were awarded to the pole winner (1 point) and to the driver leading the most laps (1 point). Light Class drivers were also able to score points in the main class.


2005 Italian Formula Three Championship
The 2005 Italian Formula Three Championship was the 41st Italian Formula Three Championship season. It began on 17 April at Adria and ended on 23 October at Misano after twelve races.


2005 Italian Formula Three Championship
Luigi Ferrara of Corbetta Competizioni finished almost all races on podium position, including three wins at Imola, Monza and Misano to clinch the title. He finished nine points clear of Team Ghinzani driver Alexander Müller, who won race at Vallelunga, a race at Imola, both races at Mugello, race at Adria and the season-ending race at Misano. Third place went to Lucidi Motors driver Paolo Maria Nocera, who took three victories at Adria, Varano and Monza.


2005 Italian Formula Three Championship, Teams and drivers
All teams were Italian-registered and all cars competed on Michelin tyres.


2005 Italian Grand Prix
The 2005 Italian Grand Prix (officially the Formula 1 Gran Premio Vodafone d'Italia 2005)  was a Formula One motor race held on 4 September 2005 at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Italy. It was the fifteenth race of the 2005 FIA Formula One World Championship. The 53-lap race was won from pole position by Colombia's Juan Pablo Montoya, driving a McLaren-Mercedes, with Renault drivers Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella second and third respectively. Kimi Räikkönen was fourth, thus losing ground to Alonso at the top of the Drivers' Championship. Antônio Pizzonia scored his last world championship points at this race.


2005 Italian Grand Prix, Friday drivers
The bottom 6 teams in the 2004 Constructors' Championship were entitled to run a third car in free practice on Friday. These drivers drove on Friday but did not compete in qualifying or the race.


2005 Italian Grand Prix, Report
Kimi Räikkönen set the fastest time in qualifying in his McLaren-Mercedes, but received a 10-place grid penalty for changing his engine, demoting him to 11th on the grid and giving pole to teammate Juan Pablo Montoya.


2005 Italian Grand Prix, Report
Montoya led every lap, winning by 2.5 seconds from the Renault of Fernando Alonso, with Giancarlo Fisichella third in the other Renault. Räikkönen climbed through the field to finish fourth, ahead of Jarno Trulli, Ralf Schumacher, Antônio Pizzonia and Jenson Button. Räikkönen would have had a chance of winning with a one-stop strategy, but a deflated tyre forced him to make a second pit stop. Rubens Barrichello also had the same problem later in the day, and Montoya was lucky to finish in the lead, as his left rear tyre began to cut with several laps remaining.


2005 Italian Grand Prix, Report
Alonso extended his lead over Räikkönen in the Drivers' Championship to 27 points, 103 to 76, with Michael Schumacher third on 55 and Montoya fourth on 50. Mathematically, the championship was now a two-horse race between Alonso and Räikkönen. Renault retained an eight-point lead over McLaren-Mercedes in the Constructors' Championship, 144 to 136, Ferrari remaining in third on 86 and Toyota fourth on 78.


2005 Italian Grand Prix, Report
There were no retirements during the race, a feat that had not been achieved in Formula One with a full field since the 1961 Dutch Grand Prix, and would not be achieved again until the 2011 European Grand Prix. The 2005 United States Grand Prix is also considered to have had no retirements; however, only six cars started due to problems with the supply of Michelin tyres, which led to the mass withdrawal of all teams running on those tyres due to safety issues. Pizzonia replaced Nick Heidfeld for the rest of the season onwards.


2005 Italian Open (tennis)
The 2005 Italian Open (also known as the 2005 Rome Masters and the 2005 Telecom Italia Masters for sponsorship reason) was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 62nd edition of the Italian Open, and was part of the ATP Masters Series of the 2005 ATP Tour, and of the Tier I Series of the 2005 WTA Tour. Both the men's and the women's events took place at the Foro Italico in Rome, Italy.


2005 Italian Open (tennis), Finals, Men's Singles
Rafael Nadal defeated  Guillermo Coria, 6–4, 3–6, 6–3, 4–6, 7–6(8–6)


2005 Italian Open (tennis), Finals, Men's Doubles
Michaël Llodra /  Fabrice Santoro defeated  Bob Bryan  /  Mike Bryan, 6–4, 6–2


2005 Italian Open (tennis), Finals, Women's Doubles
Cara Black /  Liezel Huber defeated  Maria Kirilenko /  Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6–0, 4–6, 6–1


2005 Italian Open – Men's Doubles
Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi were the defending champions, but played this tournament with different partners. Bhupathi teamed up with Todd Woodbridge while Mirnyi teamed up with Jonas Björkman. Both pairs were eliminated in semifinals.


2005 Italian Open – Men's Doubles
Michaël Llodra and Fabrice Santoro won the title, defeating Bob and Mike Bryan 6–4, 6–2 in the final.


2005 Italian Open – Men's Singles
Rafael Nadal defeated Guillermo Coria in the final 6–4, 3–6, 6–3, 4–6, 7–6(8–6) to win the Men's Singles title at the 2005 Italian Open. Nadal won the title on his tournament debut.


2005 Italian Open – Men's Singles
Carlos Moyá was the defending champion but lost in the first round to Potito Starace.


2005 Italian Open – Men's Singles, Seeds
A champion seed is indicated in bold text while text in italics indicates the round in which that seed was eliminated.


2005 Italian Open – Women's Doubles
Nadia Petrova and Meghann Shaughnessy were the defending champions, but had different outcomes. While Petrova decided to focus only on the singles tournament, Shaughnessy partnered with Anna-Lena Grönefeld and lost in semifinals to Maria Kirilenko and Anabel Medina Garrigues.


2005 Italian Open – Women's Doubles
Cara Black and Liezel Huber won the title, defeating Kirilenko and Medina Garrigues 6–0, 4–6, 6–1 in the final.


2005 Italian Open – Women's Doubles, Seeds
The first four seeds received a bye into the second round.


2005 Italian Open – Women's Singles
Amélie Mauresmo was the defending champion and successfully defended her title, defeating Patty Schnyder 2–6, 6–3, 6–4 in the final.


2005 Italian Open – Women's Singles, Seeds
The first eight seeds received a bye into the second round.


2005 Italian Superturismo Championship
The 2005 Campionato Italiano Superturismo season was the fourth season of the Italian Superturismo Championship since its recreation in 2002. It was won by well-known former Formula One and CART driver Alessandro Zanardi.


2005 Italian Superturismo Championship, Championship standings
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2005 Italian centre-left primary election
The 2005 Italian centre-left primary election determined the leader of the coalition The Union, who will stand as common candidate for the office of Prime Minister in the subsequent general election, which took place on 9–10 April 2006. It was won with 74% of the votes by Romano Prodi.


2005 Italian centre-left primary election, Historical background
As of 2005, the coalition was assumed to be led by Romano Prodi, however he called for a primary election in order to gain an official leadership. Primary elections were a novelty in Italian politics, as the proportional system in place until the early 1990s was supposed to present sufficient variety to electors. With the new majoritarian electoral system, two clear blocks emerged since 1996.


2005 Italian centre-left primary election, Historical background
Primary elections had never been held on a national level before in Italy, and only once at a regional level, in Apulia: in that occasion, Nichi Vendola, a communist and gay Catholic, became the candidate for the centre-left coalition in a region reputed to be conservative and with deep religious roots. The institute of primary election came under criticism from some centre-left moderates, as in their opinion it had produced a useless candidate doomed to failure. However, Vendola's victory against the incumbent governor and centre-right candidate Raffaele Fitto, a much more conventional and moderate young man, vindicated the primary elections in the internal argumentations of The Union.


2005 Italian centre-left primary election, Candidates
When the primary elections were first proposed, they were mostly meant as a plebiscite for Romano Prodi, since there were no other candidates to the leadership of the coalition. The secretary of the Communist Refoundation Party, Fausto Bertinotti, then announced he would run for the leadership, even if only to act as a symbolic candidate, to avoid a one-candidate election. After some time, more candidates were presented.


2005 Italian centre-left primary election, Candidates
The primary election may have been foreseen an easy win for Prodi, with the other candidates running mostly to "measure their strengths" in the coalition, and they often talked about reaching a certain percentage rather than winning.


2005 Italian centre-left primary election, Candidates
However, there were rumours of supporters of the House of Freedoms trying to participate in the elections, and vote in favour of Clemente Mastella, reputed to be the least competent of the candidates and the least likely to win against Berlusconi, other than the most centrist; other rumours indicated such "fake" left-wing voters would vote for Bertinotti, because his leadership would likely lose any grip on the political centre.


2005 Italian centre-left primary election, Results
The primary election had been held nationwide on 16 October 2005, from 8am to 10pm. The primary election was open to all Italian citizens who were at least 18 during the following general election, plus regular immigrants who have lived in Italy for three years (immigrants still do not have the opportunity to vote for any other election in Italy), against a payment of (at least) 1 euro, charged to cover organisational expenses.


2005 Italian centre-left primary election, Results
Poll stations were mainly managed on a voluntary basis; they were hosted mainly in squares, local party quarters, schools, and even restaurants, bars, campers and a hairdresser; some polling stations were also provided outside the country for Italians abroad. Most of the party leaders claimed a result of 1 million voters would be a good success for the election. The total count was in excess of 4,300,000.


2005 Italian centre-left primary election, Political reactions
Most reactions on the centre-left were comprehensibly enthusiastic, especially because of the high number of participants. Clemente Mastella, however, accused the organization of rigging the election and having pre-printed ballots in favour of Prodi.


2005 Italian centre-left primary election, Political reactions
On the centre-right, two main attitudes were held: some respected or even hailed the election, others contested its validity and characterised them as propaganda.


2005 Italian centre-left primary election, Controversies, Allegations of fraud by Mastella
Clemente Mastella claimed, already on the election day, that too few ballots had been provided in areas where his party is stronger, and that several pre-marked voting papers, pre-marked with votes for Prodi, have been prepared in order to let him lose. No one other than Mastella backed up these claims inside the coalition, and material evidence was not presented.


2005 Italian centre-left primary election, Controversies, Murder of Francesco Fortugno
Francesco Fortugno, vice-president of the Council of Calabria and member of The Daisy (DL), was murdered on 16 October 2005 by two killers when he was waiting in line to vote in a polling station in Locri. The act was assumed to have political significance since the murderers killed him on a political occasion and with dozens of witnesses. The administration Fortugno was a part of had previously removed many administrators, and some saw this murder as an act of retribution from the 'Ndrangheta against Agazio Loiero's administration.


2005 Italian fertility laws referendum
A four-part abrogative referendum on fertility laws was held in Italy on 12 June 2005. Voters were asked whether research and access to the research on embryos should be limited, whether embryos should be legally recognised as people and whether IVF treatment should be limited to three embryos. The referendum was called after the Italian Radicals collected the 500,000 signatures required. Although all four proposals were approved by wide margins, the voter turnout of 26% was well below the 50% threshold and the results were invalidated. Pope Benedict XVI had called for a boycott.


2005 Italian motorcycle Grand Prix
The 2005 Italian motorcycle Grand Prix was the fifth round of the 2005 MotoGP Championship. It took place on the weekend of 3–5 June 2005 at the Mugello Circuit.


2005 Italian motorcycle Grand Prix, Championship standings after the race (motoGP)
Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round five has concluded.


2005 Italian regional elections
The Italian regional elections of 3–4 April 2005 were a major victory (11-2) for the centre-left The Union coalition, led by Romano Prodi. The centre-right coalition, governing in the national government, was defeated in all the regions it held, except for its strongholds in Lombardy and Veneto, whose population is anyway a fourth of Italian population. The elections resulted in the national government, led by Silvio Berlusconi, to acknowledge defeat and open a crisis, which resulted in the formation of Berlusconi III Cabinet, with some ministers being substituted.


2005 Italian regional elections
Due to a series of bureaucratic issues involving the presentation of the list of Social Alternative in Basilicata, the election there would have been held two weeks later. There, the victory of the centre-left coalition brought the tally to 12-2.


2005 Italian regional elections
The fact that the centre-left was particularly strong in small regions led to the even result of the 2006 general election.


2005 Italy rugby union tour
The 2005 Italy rugby union tour of Argentina and South Africa was a series of matches played in June_ 2005 in Argentina and Australia by Italy national rugby union team.


2005 Italy rugby union tour
Italy obtain his first victory in test-match played in Argentina against the Pumas. It was the only victory of a Northern hemisphere team in a test match during the 2005 mid-year rugby union tests


2005 Italy rugby union tour, Results
Argentina: 15.Bernardo Stortoni, 14.Jose Nunez Piossek, 13.Lisandro Arbizu, 12.Felipe Contepomi , 11.Hernan Senillosa, 10.Federico Todeschini, 9.Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, 8.Gonzalo Longo (capt), 7.Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 6.Martin Schusterman, 5.Pablo Bouza, 4.Patricio Albacete, 3.Omar Hasan Jalil, 2.Mario Ledesma, 1.Marcos Ayerza,  – replacements: 17.Pablo Henn, 18.Mariano Sambucetti, 19.Federico Andres Genoud, 19.Federico Andres Genoud, 21.Francisco Leonelli Morey     –  No entry : 16.Eusebio Guinazu, 20.Matias Albina, 22.Federico Serra MirasItaly:


2005 Italy rugby union tour, Results
15.Gert Peens, 14.Kaine Robertson, 13.Gonzalo Canale, 12.Andrea Masi, 11.Ludovico Nitoglia, 10.Luciano Orquera, 9.Paul Griffen, 8.Sergio Parisse, 7.Josh Sole, 6.Aaron Persico, 5.Marco Bortolami (capt. ), 4.Cristian Bezzi, 3.Carlos Nieto, 2.Andrea Moretti, 1.Andrea Lo Cicero,  – replacements: 16.Carlo Festuccia, 17.Martin Castrogiovanni, 18.Antonio Pavanello, 19.Silvio Orlando      –  No entry: 20.Nicolas Canavosio, 21.Gabriel Pizarro, 22.Antonio Mannato


2005 Italy rugby union tour, Results
Australia: 15.Bernardo Stortoni, 14.Jose Nunez Piossek, 13.Lisandro Arbizu, 12.Felipe Contepomi, 11.Federico Aramburu, 10.Federico Todeschini, 9.Agustin Pichot (capt), 8.Gonzalo Longo, 7.Juan Manuel Leguizamon , 6.Martin Schusterman, 5.Patricio Albacete , 4.Pablo Bouza, 3.Omar Hasan Jalil, 2.Mario Ledesma, 1.Rodrigo Roncero,  – replacements: 21.Hernan Senillosa         –  No entry : 16.Eusebio Guinazu, 17.Marcos Ayerza, 18.Mariano Sambucetti, 19.Alejandro Broggi, 20.Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, 22.Federico Serra MirasItaly: 15.Gert Peens, 14.Kaine Robertson, 13.Gonzalo Canale, 12.Andrea Masi, 11.Antonio Mannato, 10.Ramiro Pez, 9.Paul Griffen, 8.Sergio Parisse, 7.Mauro Bergamasco, 6.Aaron Persico, 5.Marco Bortolami (capt.) , 4.Santiago Dellape , 3.Carlos Nieto, 2.Carlo Festuccia, 1.Andrea Lo Cicero  –  No entry: 16.Andrea Moretti, 17.Martin Castrogiovanni, 18.Cristian Bezzi, 19.David dal Maso


2005 Italy rugby union tour, Results
Australia: 15.Mat Rogers, 14.Wendell Sailor, 13.Stirling Mortlock, 12.Matt Giteau, 11.Lote Tuqiri, 10.Stephen Larkham, 9.George Gregan (capt), 8.David Lyons, 7.George Smith, 6.Rocky Elsom , 5.Nathan Sharpe, 4.Mark Chisholm, 3.Al Baxter, 2.Jeremy Paul, 1.Bill Young,  – replacements: 16.Stephen Moore, 17.Matt Dunning, 18.Hugh McMeniman, 19.John Roe, 20.Chris Whitaker, 21.Morgan Turinui, 22.Mark Gerrard Italy: 15.Gert Peens, 14.Antonio Mannato, 13.Gonzalo Canale, 12.Andrea Masi, 11.Kaine Robertson, 10.Ramiro Pez, 9.Paul Griffen, 8.Sergio Parisse, 7.Mauro Bergamasco, 6.David dal Maso, 5.Marco Bortolami (capt. ), 4.Cristian Bezzi, 3.Martin Castrogiovanni, 2.Carlo Festuccia, 1.Andrea Lo Cicero,  – replacements: 16.Michele Rizzo, 17.Carlos Nieto, 18.Antonio Pavanello, 19.Silvio Orlando, 20.Pablo Canavosio, 21.Cristian Zanoletti    –  No entry: 22.Walter Pozzebon


2005 Ivy League Baseball Championship Series
The 2005 Ivy League Baseball Championship Series took place at Joseph J. O'Donnell Field in Cambridge, Massachusetts on May 9, 2005. The series matched the regular season champions of each of the league's two divisions. Harvard, the winner of the series, claimed their fifth title and the Ivy League's automatic berth in the 2005 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament. It was Harvard's seventh appearance in the Championship Series and the first time they did not face Princeton in the matchup.


2005 J&S Cup
The 2005 J&S Cup was a Tier II event on the 2005 WTA Tour that run from April 25 - May 1, 2005. It was held in Warsaw, Poland, and was the 10th year that the event was staged. Justine Henin-Hardenne won her first Warsaw title and second overall of the year.


2005 J&S Cup, Finals, Doubles
Tatiana Perebiynis /  Barbora Strýcová defeated  Klaudia Jans /  Alicja Rosolska, 6–1, 6–4


2005 J&S Cup – Doubles
Silvia Farina Elia and Francesca Schiavone were the defending champions, but they chose not to compete that year together.


2005 J&S Cup – Doubles
Farina Elia partnered with Vera Zvonareva. Schiavone partnered with Daniela Hantuchová.


2005 J&S Cup – Doubles
Tatiana Perebiynis and Barbora Strýcová won in the final 6-1, 6-4 against Klaudia Jans and Alicja Rosolska


2005 J&S Cup – Singles
Venus Williams was the defending champion, but chose not to participate that year.


2005 J&S Cup – Singles
Unseeded Justine Henin-Hardenne won the title, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final, 3–6, 6–2, 7–5.


2005 J.League Cup
The 2005 J.League Cup, officially the 2005 Yamazaki Nabisco Cup, was the 3rd edition of Japan association football league cup tournament and the 13th edition under the current J.League Cup format. The championship started on March 19, and finished on November 5, 2005.


2005 J.League Cup
Teams from the J1 took part in the tournament. Yokohama F. Marinos and Júbilo Iwata were given a bye to the quarter-final due to their qualification for the AFC Champions League. The rest of 16 teams started from the group stage, where they're divided into four groups. The group winners of each group qualifies for the quarter-final along with the 2 best runners-up, and the two teams which qualified for the AFC Champions League.


2005 J.League Cup Final
2005 J.League Cup Final was the 13th final of the J.League Cup competition. The final was played at National Stadium in Tokyo on 5 November 2005. JEF United Chiba won the championship.


2005 J.League Division 1
The 2005 season was the 13th season since the establishment of J.League. It began on March 5 and ended on December 3, followed by promotion/relegation series matches on December 7 and 10.


2005 J.League Division 1, Clubs
Following eighteen clubs played in J.League Division 1 during 2005 season. Of these clubs, Omiya Ardija and Kawasaki Frontale were newly promoted clubs.


2005 J.League Division 1, Format
Eighteen clubs will play in double round-robin (home and away) format, a total of 34 games each. A club receives 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, and 0 points for a loss. The clubs are ranked by points, and tie breakers are, in the following order:


2005 J.League Division 1, Format
A draw would be conducted, if necessary. However, if two clubs are tied at the first place, both clubs will be declared as the champions. The bottom two clubs will be relegated to J2, while the 16th placed club plays a two-legged Promotion/Relegation Series.


2005 J.League Division 1, Attendance figures
Updated to games played on December 3, 2005Source: Notes:† Team played previous season in J2.‡ Relocated from Ichihara to Chiba.


2005 J.League Division 1, Awards, Best Eleven
* The number in brackets denotes the number of times that the footballer has appeared in the Best 11.


2005 J.League Division 2
The 2005 J.League Division 2 season was the 34th season of the second-tier club football in Japan and the 7th season since the establishment of J2 League.


2005 J.League Division 2
In this season, two additional clubs joined from the third-tier Japan Football League, though the number of participating clubs stayed at twelve, as no teams were relegated from 2004 J1 League to replace the two promoted clubs. The clubs competed in the quadruple round-robin format for the top two promotion slots. The third placed-finisher participated in the Pro/Rele Series for the promotion. There was no relegation to the third-tier Japan Football League.


2005 J.League Division 2, Clubs
The following twelve clubs played in J.League Division 2 during the 2005 season. Thespa Kusatsu and Tokushima Vortis newly joined the J.League Division 2 from Japan Football League. Due to expansion of J.League Division 1, there was no relegated club from 2004 J1 League. Since Tokushima is based in Shikoku, it became the first season for J.League being presented on all four major islands of Japan, Hokkaidō, Honshū, Kyūshū, and Shikoku.


2005 J.League Division 2, League format
Twelve clubs play in a quadruple round-robin format, a total of 44 games each. A club receives 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, and 0 points for a loss. The clubs are ranked by points, and tie breakers are, in the following order:


2005 J.League Division 2, League format
A draw would be conducted, if necessary. However, if two clubs are tied at the first place, both clubs will be declared as the champions. The top two clubs will be promoted to J1, while the 3rd placed club plays a two-legged Promotion/Relegation series.


2005 J.League Division 2, Attendance figures
Updated to games played on December 3, 2005Source: Notes:† Team played previous season in JFL.


2005 JPMorgan Chase Open
The 2005 JPMorgan Chase Open was a women's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was part of the Tier II Series of the 2005 WTA Tour. It was the 32nd edition of the tournament and took place in Carson, California, United States, from August 8 through August 14, 2005. Fifth-seeded Kim Clijsters won the singles title, her second at the event after 2003, and earned $93,000 first-prize money.


2005 JPMorgan Chase Open, Finals, Doubles
Elena Dementieva /  Flavia Pennetta defeated  Angela Haynes /  Bethanie Mattek, 6–2, 6–4


2005 JPMorgan Chase Open – Doubles
Nadia Petrova and Meghann Shaughnessy were the defending champions, but had different outcomes. While Shaughnessy did not compete this year due to a back injury, Petrova partnered with Alina Jidkova and lost in first round to Elena Dementieva and Flavia Pennetta.


2005 JPMorgan Chase Open – Doubles
Dementieva and Pennetta won the title, defeating Angela Haynes and Bethanie Mattek 6–2, 6–4 in the final. It was the 1st and only title of the year, the 5th and final title for Dementieva, and the 1st title of Pennetta, in their respective careers.


2005 JPMorgan Chase Open – Singles
Lindsay Davenport was the defending champion, but withdrew due to a lower-back strain.


2005 JPMorgan Chase Open – Singles
Kim Clijsters won the title, defeating Daniela Hantuchová 6–4, 6–1 in the final.


2005 JPMorgan Chase Open – Singles, Seeds
The top eight seeds receive a bye into the second round.


2005 Jacksonville Jaguars season
The 2005 Jacksonville Jaguars season was the eleventh season in franchise history. The Jaguars finished 12–4 in the regular season, but did not manage to win their own division, being swept by the Indianapolis Colts who finished 14–2. The Jaguars reached the playoffs for the first time since 1999, but lost in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs to the New England Patriots.


2005 Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards Presentation
The 2005 Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards Presentation (Chinese: 2005年度十大勁歌金曲頒獎典禮) was held on January 2006. It is part of the Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards Presentation series held in Hong Kong.


2005 Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards Presentation, Top 10 song awards
The top 10 songs (十大勁歌金曲) of 2005 are as follows.


2005 Japan Football League
The 2005 Japan Football League (Japanese: 第7回日本フットボールリーグ, Hepburn: Dai Nana-kai Nihon Futtobōru Rīgu) was the seventh season of the Japan Football League, the third tier of the Japanese football league system.


2005 Japan Football League, Overview
It was contested by 16 teams, and Ehime FC won the championship.


2005 Japan Football League, Overview
Mitsubishi Motors Mizushima, Ryutsu Keizai University and Honda Lock were promoted from Regional Leagues by the virtue of their placing in the Regional League promotion series.


2005 Japan Football League, Promotion and relegation
No relegation has occurred due to expansion of the league to 18 teams. At the end the season, FC Ryukyu, JEF Reserves and Rosso Kumamoto were promoted from Regional leagues by the virtue of their placing in the Regional League promotion series.


2005 Japan Golf Tour
The 2005 Japan Golf Tour season was played from 16 December 2004 to 4 December 2005. The season consisted of 29 official money events in Japan, as well as the four majors and the three World Golf Championships.


2005 Japan Golf Tour, Tournament results
The following table shows all the official money events in Japan for the 2005 season. The number in parentheses after each winner's name is the number of Japan Golf Tour events he had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for Japan Golf Tour members.


2005 Japan Series
The 2005 Japan Series, the 56th edition of Nippon Professional Baseball's championship series,  began on October 22 and ended on October 26, and matched the Central League champion Hanshin Tigers against the Pacific League Champion, Chiba Lotte Marines. It would become the most one-sided Japan Series in history, as the Marines outscored the Tigers 33-4 throughout the series. On the other hand, the Tigers had several worst records in the Japan Series, scoring only 4 runs, an earned run average of 8.63, and getting no home runs.


2005 Japan Series, Chiba Lotte Marines
The Marines, led by charismatic manager Bobby Valentine, pulled off an incredible season, finishing 2nd in the Pacific League, qualifying for the newly created Pacific League Climax Series. They defeated the defending Japan Series champion Seibu Lions, then squeaked by the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, 3 games to 2, in a series where they were just one out away from sweeping the heavily favored Hawks.


2005 Japan Series, Chiba Lotte Marines
Naoyuki Shimizu and submariner Shunsuke Watanabe led the Marines pitching staff, one that allowed the fewest runs in Nippon Professional Baseball. Masahide Kobayashi was the team's closer, although he did blow his fair share of saves over the season.


2005 Japan Series, Chiba Lotte Marines
The Marines offense scored the most runs in the league with a hard-hitting lineup featuring Benny Agbayani, Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Toshiaki Imae, and star Korean import Lee Seung-Yeop, who led the team in home runs.


2005 Japan Series, Hanshin Tigers
The Tigers were two years removed from their last Japan Series appearance, when they were defeated in 7 games by the then-Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in 2003. The team from that year was largely the same, but also featured some new faces.


2005 Japan Series, Hanshin Tigers
The Tigers' pitching staff was headlined by the trio called JFK, short for setup men Jeff Williams, Kyuji Fujikawa, and closer Tomoyuki Kubota. The team's #1 starter was Yuya Andoh, who had a fine season himself in 2005.


2005 Japan Series, Hanshin Tigers
The Tigers' offense was buoyed by league MVP Tomoaki Kanemoto, who hit four home runs in the 2003 Series. Catcher Akihiro Yano was also an integral part of the team's power. The Tigers also had speed to burn in shortstop Takashi Toritani and center fielder Norihiro Akahoshi.


2005 Japan Series, Pacific League Playoff
The Marines finished second to the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in the Pacific League in 2005, giving them home-field advantage in the playoffs for the first round against the defending Japan Series Champion Seibu Lions. The Marines swept the Lions and then got into a dramatic five-game series with the favored Hawks.


2005 Japan Series, Pacific League Playoff
Despite being one out away from sweeping the Hawks, closer Kobayashi coughed up a 4–0 lead in Game 3 of the best-of-five series. SoftBank would win Game 3 in extra innings, and then also won Game 4. However, the Marines won Game 5 on a clutch double from Tomoya Satozaki.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 1
The first game would set the tone for the rest of the series for both teams. The Marines sent 10-game winner Nao Shimizu to the mound against Tigers ace Kei Igawa, who won 13 games in 2005.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 1
The Tigers threatened in the first with two on and one out, but Shimizu managed to get Kanemoto to ground into an inning-ending double play, started by shortstop Nishioka. This would be the first of seemingly endless rally-killing double plays for the Tigers in the Series. In the bottom of the inning, Imae would set his own pace for the series with a towering home run to left field to put the Marines up 1–0.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 1
The teams matched zeroes until the 5th, when Makoto Imaoka singled and Yano doubled, sending Imaoka to 3rd. Atsushi Fujimoto then lifted a sacrifice fly to left that scored Imaoka on a close play.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 1
Shades of the 2003 Japan Series opener were in the public's mind, however it all started to fall apart for the Tigers in the 5th. A single and a beautifully executed push bunt by Nishioka led to an RBI single by Imae. With a run already in, normally light-hitting Saburo Ohmura doubled in both Nishioka and Imae to put Lotte ahead 4–1.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 1
In the 6th inning, Seung-Yeop Lee crushed a belt-high Igawa pitch into the right-field stands for a home run to make it 5–1. With the fog rolling into Chiba Marine Stadium, the Marines turned an already one-sided affair into a whitewashing. Two singles set up catcher Tomoya Satozaki for a 3-run home run. Agbayani capped the scoring in the 7th through even thicker fog with a 2-run blast of his own for the Marines' 4th home run of the day and staking the team to a 10–1 lead.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 1
After Agbayani's home run, the umpires conferred and called for a fog delay. After a wait, the umpires decided to call the game after 7 innings, giving Shimizu a complete game victory.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 2
Looking to rebound from the previous night's thumping, the Tigers sent Yuya Andoh to the mound, countering the Marines' star submarine pitcher, Shunsuke Watanabe. Again, the Marines got off to a fast start, with Nishioka doubling to right on the second pitch he saw from Andoh. With 2 down and Nishioka on 3rd, Saburo hit a ground ball to Imaoka at 3rd, but the throw was one-hopped to the first baseman Andy Sheets and got away from him. Saburo reached and Nishioka scored to put the Marines on top, 1–0.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 2
In the 2nd inning, Lee drew a walk, setting up Imae, who hit a double and advanced the Korean slugger to 3rd. A double play followed, but the Tigers were willing to trade a run for 2 outs, as Lee scored.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 2
Watanabe had little resistance in the first two innings, but ran into a bit of trouble in the 3rd. Two singles leading off the inning brought up Fujimoto, who tried to sacrifice the runners to 2nd and 3rd, but a bad bunt with one strike put the pressure on Fujimoto to swing away. He ended up fouling out to Lee at first, and Hanshin would fail to score after the next two batters failed to reach as well.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 2
The Tigers would threaten again in the top of the 6th, when Akahoshi singled and stole second to start the inning. Toritani then singled himself to put runners on the corners with nobody out. However, after an out, Sheets lined a Watanabe pitch up the middle which was fielded for a 4–6–3 double play, Hanshin's 2nd twin-killing of the game.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 2
With the Tigers failing to at least pull closer, the Marines then went in for the kill. With a runner on first and one out, Saburo lined a home run to left field to put Lotte ahead 4–0. Matt Franco then immediately followed with a home run of his own for a 5–0 Marines lead. Andoh was visibly in tears as he pitched to Agbayani. Egusa was brought in to face the dangerous Lee, who clubbed the 3rd home run of the inning to put the game away at 7–0.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 2
In the 8th, Lotte added two more, one of the runs coming off the bat of Imae once again. Through two games, Imae was a perfect 8-for-8 with one home run. Lotte had taken an overwhelming 9–0 lead, but they weren't done yet. Platoon catcher Tasuku Hashimoto then followed Imae with a triple that gave the Marines a 10–0 lead.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 2
Watanabe closed out the game with little resistance from the Tigers' batters, giving the Marines a commanding 2 games to none lead in the series. The Tigers had been in this exact situation before two years earlier, and came within one game of winning the Japan Series then. Going home to the friendly confines of Koshien Stadium, could they turn the series around?


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 3
Having been outscored 20–1 in the first two games, the Tigers were not only in need of a win, but also of a way to somehow stop (or at least slow down) the dominant Lotte lineup. Things bode well for the Tigers, however, as they headed home to Koshien Stadium, where they had reeled off three straight wins in the 2003 Japan Series against the Hawks.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 3
Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi took the hill for the Tigers and had a clean first inning. Big right-hander Hiroyuki Kobayashi was called on to start for the Marines, and he found trouble with one out in the first as Toritani doubled off the wall in left. However, neither Sheets or Kanemoto could send Toritani home, and the first inning ended scoreless.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 3
Saburo led off the second with a double off Shimoyanagi. After reaching 3rd, Agbayani hit a sacrifice fly to left to score Saburo and give the Marines a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the 2nd, the Tigers again seemed to have something going as Imaoka singled and Shinjiro Hiyama drew a full count walk with nobody out. After a sacrifice bunt, Imaoka scored on a fielder's choice by Kentaro Sekimoto. This was the first time that Hanshin had scored in 11 innings, and it tied the score, 1–1.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 3
Pesky as ever, the Marines answered right back against Shimoyanagi in the top of the 4th. Hori and Kazuya Fukuura both singled to start the inning. After an out and a walk, the bases were loaded with 1 down for Satozaki, who hit a slow roller to short. It was fielded by Toritani at short who tossed it to Sekimoto at 2nd for one out, but Sekimoto's relay to Sheets at first was apparently too late to get Satozaki at 1st, allowing Hori to score and give the Marines the 2–1 lead.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 3
However, replays showed that Satozaki was out by the smallest of margins. With runners on the corners and 2 out, Imae came up and again knocked in a run, this time on a swinging bunt which was fielded, but too late to get Imae at first, which allowed Fukuura to score from 3rd, giving the Marines a 3–1 lead.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 3
Keeping with the theme of the past two games, the Tigers kept it close, but failed to score to tie the game up. In the 7th, the Marines kept their own theme going by breaking the game open in the late innings. Young reliever Kyuji Fujikawa worked a clean 6th, but Satozaki walked and once again Imae came through with a double to right-center to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out to start the 7th. Matt Franco then drew a full-count walk to load the bases with nobody out. The walks came back to bite Fujikawa.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 3
Hashimoto rifled a single up the middle to score both Satozaki and Imae and give the Marines a 5–1 lead. Nishioka then came up and singled up the middle to put Lotte ahead 6–-1. After re-loading the bases, Fukuura then put the nail in the coffin by crushing a grand slam to extend the Marines' lead to 10–1.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 3
That would be how the game would end, as Soichi Fujita worked the 8th, striking out a visibly frustrated Sheets to end the inning. Yasuhiko Yabuta then worked the 9th and struck out Kanemoto and Hiyama to end the game and give the Marines a commanding 3 games-to-none lead.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 4
The only close game of the series ended Hanshin's hopes of winning their first Japan Series championship since 1985. Naohisa Sugiyama took the mound for the Tigers to try to stage a miracle comeback. Considering the Tigers had been outscored 30–2 in the first three games, a miracle was what they would need. On the other side was foreign lefty Dan Serafini. Serafini got into some trouble in the first with Akahoshi beating out a high chopper to short and Toritani laying down a bunt, then beating Serafini's throw to first. However, the Tigers once again could not capitalize and take their first lead of the series, with the next three batters in Andy Sheets, Tomoaki Kanemoto, and Makoto Imaoka all failing to drive in runs.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 4
Sugiyama could not duplicate the success of the previous inning, as Matt Franco led off with a double, and then Lee Seung-Yeop crushed his 3rd home run of the series to deep right field, putting the Marines on top, 2-0.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 4
In the home half of the 3rd, Akahoshi once again reached and was sacrificed to second, and for a moment it seemed that the Tigers would finally catch a break, but Sheets' liner was caught by a great effort from Franco to end the inning and keep the Tigers off the board.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 4
Franco and Lee teamed up again to lead off the 3rd inning with Franco drawing a walk and then Lee doubling, driving Franco in all the way from first. The 3-0 lead seemed safe, especially given the Tigers' late-inning collapses.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 4
In the 5th, Serafini found himself in trouble yet again, as he had runners on first and 2nd with nobody out. But once again, the Tigers could not score, as Serafini got a strikeout, then induced a 4-6-3 double play on Akahoshi.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 4
However, in the 6th the Tigers finally made the most of one of their chances. Serafini gave up a single to Sheets and then walked Kanemoto with one out. Valentine went to his bullpen, sending Shingo Ono to the mound to try to stem the tide. Ono gave up a bloop single to Imaoka that scored Sheets to put the Tigers on the board at 3-1. Shinjiro Hiyama then kept the rally going by singling just past second to pull the Tigers ever closer at 3-2. In just one inning, the Tigers had matched their offensive output over three games. Akihiro Yano came up with a chance to keep it going, but he grounded into yet another inning-ending double play for the Tigers.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 4
From there, the last three innings were a battle of the bullpens. Both teams fired scoreless 7th innings, and with one on and one out in the 8th, Yabuta struck out both Kanemoto and Imaoka to end the inning. Masahide Kobayashi came in to end the series, his first appearance in the series. It did not start well, as Kobayashi issued a four-pitch walk to Hiyama to start the inning. Yano tried to sacrifice Hiyama to 2nd, but his sacrifice bunt attempt was popped up and caught by Fukuura, and Hiyama was doubled off at 1st for the Tigers' 3rd double play of the game. Kobayashi then got Fujimoto swinging to end the game and the series.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 4
The final aggregate score for the series was 33-4, the most one-sided Japan Series in the event's history. With the win, the Marines won their first Japan Series Championship since 1974, when they were known as the Lotte Orions. In addition, Bobby Valentine was the first foreign manager to win a Japan Series championship.


2005 Japan Series, Game summaries, Game 4
The series MVP was Toshiaki Imae, who recorded eight straight hits in the first two games, and finished with a .625 average for the series with one home run and nine runs batted in.


2005 Japan national football team
This page records the details of the Japan national football team in 2005.


2005 Japan rugby union tour of South America
The 2005 Japan rugby union tour of South America was a series of matches played in April 2005 in Uruguay and Argentina by Japan national rugby union team.


2005 Japan rugby union tour of South America, Matches
In the first match, 8 Japanese players made their debut.


2005 Japan rugby union tour of South America, Matches
Uruguay: 15.Agustin Perez del Castillo, 14.Carlos Baldassari, 13.Joaquin Pastore, 12.Hilario Canessa, 11.Ivo Dugonjic, 10.Diego Aguirre, 9.Juan Campomar (capt. ), 8.Ignacio Conti, 7.Nicolas Grille, 6.Alfredo Giuria, 5.Juan Alzueta, 4.Rafael Alvarez, 3.Federico Capo Ortega, 2.Juan Andres Perez, 1.Diego Lamelas,  – replacements: 16.Rodrigo Sanchez, 17.Diego Silveira, 18.Luis Ara, 19.Marcelo Gutierrez Japan: 15.Goshi Tachikawa, 14.Christian Loamanu, 13.Daisuke Ohata, 12.Reuben Parkinson, 11.Hirotoki Onozawa, 10.Kyohei Morita, 9.Wataru Murata, 8.Takuro Miuchi (capt. ), 7.Tomoaki Nakai, 6.Hare Makiri, 5.Jamie Washington, 4.Takanori Kumagae, 3.Ryo Yamamura, 2.Ken Tsukagoshi, 1.Hiroshi Takahashi,  – replacements: 17.Shigeyasu Takagi, 19.Takeomi Ito, 20.Shota Goto, 21.Yukio Motoki, 22.Ayumu Goromaru, 23.Kenji Kasai    –  No entry: 16.Masakazu Nakabayashi, 18.Hitoshi Ono


2005 Japan rugby union tour of South America, Matches
In the second match, Japan meet a young and inexperienced Argentinian team, with three debuts (Avramovic, Creevy, Leguizamon), and without several of their players who played at European clubs. The result was a whitewash with Argentina easily winning by 32 points.


2005 Japan rugby union tour of South America, Matches
Argentina: 15.Federico Serra Miras, 14.Fernando Higgs, 13.Miguel Avramovic, 12.Francisco Leonelli Morey, 11.Francisco Bosch, 10.Federico Todeschini, 9.Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, 8.Augusto Petrilli, 7.Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 6.Federico Andres Genoud, 5.Manuel Carizza, 4.Pablo Bouza, 3.Eusebio Guinazu, 2.Alberto Vernet Basualdo, 1.Marcos Ayerza,  – replacements: 16.Francisco Lecot, 17.Pablo Henn, 18.Gerardo Lazcano Miranda, 19.Agustin Creevy, 20.Matias Albina, 21.Juan Fernandez Miranda, 22.Gonzalo Tiesi Japan: 15.Goshi Tachikawa, 14.Daisuke Ohata, 13.Reuben Parkinson, 12.Yukio Motoki, 11.Hirotoki Onozawa, 10.Kyohei Morita, 9.Wataru Murata, 8.Takuro Miuchi, 7.Hitoshi Ono, 6.Hare Makiri, 5.Jamie Washington, 4.Takanori Kumagae, 3.Ryo Yamamura, 2.Ken Tsukagoshi, 1.Hiroshi Takahashi,  – replacements: 17.Kenji Kasai, 18.Ryota Asano Inose, 19.Takeomi Ito, 20.Shota Goto      –  No entry: 16.Masakazu Nakabayashi, 21.Ayumu Goromaru, 22.Christian Loamanu


2005 Japan women's national football team
This page records the details of the Japan women's national football team in 2005.


2005 Japanese Formula 3 Championship
The 2005 Japanese Formula 3 Championship was the 26th edition of the Japanese Formula 3 Championship. It began on 2 April at Motegi and ended on 23 October at the same place. Brazilian driver João Paulo de Oliveira took the championship title, winning seven from 20 races.


2005 Japanese Grand Prix
The 2005 Japanese Grand Prix (officially the 2005 Formula 1 Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 9 October 2005 at the Suzuka Circuit. McLaren's Kimi Räikkönen won the race after starting from 17th place and overtaking race leader Giancarlo Fisichella on the final lap. This race also marked Ralf Schumacher's sixth and last pole position of his career (and Toyota's second).


2005 Japanese Grand Prix, Friday drivers
The bottom 6 teams in the 2004 Constructors' Championship were entitled to run a third car in free practice on Friday. These drivers drove on Friday but did not compete in qualifying or the race.


2005 Japanese Grand Prix, Report
The 2005 Japanese Grand Prix was the eighteenth race of the 2005 Formula One season. A wet qualifying led Toyota's Ralf Schumacher to qualify on pole, which would be the last pole position of his career. Meanwhile, the typical frontrunners qualified further down the grid.


2005 Japanese Grand Prix, Report
The race started off with Ralf Schumacher leading and Fisichella getting ahead of Button while Takuma Sato and Rubens Barrichello went off the track and collided resulting in the Brazilian suffering a left rear puncture. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso, Michael Schumacher and both McLaren drivers were making quick progress through the field. Towards the end of lap 1, a safety car was deployed when Juan Montoya's car went off track at the beginning of the pit straight. He tried to go around the outside of Villeneuve, who pushed him off, resulting in a 25 sec penalty at the end of the race for the Canadian. Montoya's crash affected the Constructors' Championship as it meant that only Räikkönen could score points for McLaren.


2005 Japanese Grand Prix, Report
After the safety car, the remaining favourites that had started from the back continued to make progress. Alonso tried to pass Christian Klien into the final chicane but went off, coming back to the track ahead of him. He gave the position back only to repass Klien back immediately by getting back into his slipstream. Race stewards came on to the radio telling the Renault team to let Klien back past again, so Alonso did. By this time he was four and a half seconds behind Michael Schumacher, but he closed that gap with ease, while Räikkönen got right behind them too.


2005 Japanese Grand Prix, Report
In the first round of pitstops, Ralf Schumacher pitted very early and went down to eighth position while Giancarlo Fisichella took a comfortable lead. Well behind Fisichella, Alonso and Räikkönen were putting pressure on Michael Schumacher. Alonso, with the lightest car of the trio, went around the outside of Schumacher through 130R corner on lap 20, but needed to pit briefly after making the pass. Michael Schumacher and Kimi Räikkönen continued scrapping for a couple more laps before their pitstops, both of them rejoining the track ahead of Coulthard and Alonso.


2005 Japanese Grand Prix, Report
Laps later Räikkönen passed Schumacher and closed in on Button and Webber. Alonso passed Schumacher for the second time and by this point he started to close in on Räikkönen, who was stuck behind Webber and Button. Fisichella still looked favourite to win the grand prix, as he was 20 seconds ahead of the chasing pack. Alonso, running lighter again, needed to pit earlier than the rest of this pack. Fisichella pitted next and rejoined right behind Button, Webber and Räikkönen.


2005 Japanese Grand Prix, Report
Button and Webber pitted, Webber got out ahead of Button and they both got out ahead of Fernando Alonso. Räikkönen, finally with a clear track ahead, set a series of fastest laps, the best being a 1:31.540, and then pitted. By then he was only 5 seconds behind Fisichella and was closing on the Renault. Meanwhile, Alonso had got past Button who was slipping back to Coulthard and Michael Schumacher. Alonso then passed Webber for third. Up the road, Räikkönen was now right on the tail of race leader Fisichella.


2005 Japanese Grand Prix, Report
With 3 laps to go, Fisichella went defensive under braking at the Casio Triangle, which allowed Räikkönen to get a tow on the pit straight. Fisichella defended but the story repeated next lap, and this time Räikkönen was able to get past around the outside of turn 1 of the final lap.


2005 Japanese Grand Prix, Report
Räikkönen won the race, taking his final victory for McLaren and the team's 6th win in a row, ahead of Fisichella, Alonso, Webber, Button, Coulthard, Michael Schumacher, and Ralf Schumacher. Post-race saw the disqualification of Takuma Sato after an earlier collision with Jarno Trulli.


2005 Japanese Super Cup
2005 Japanese Super Cup was the Japanese Super Cup competition. The match was played at International Stadium Yokohama in Kanagawa on February 26, 2005.


2005 Japanese Super Cup
This was the clubs' first Super Cup encounter since their clash in 1984 under their former corporate identities. Tokyo Verdy won the encounter again.


2005 Japanese bridge scandal
The 2005 Japanese bridge scandal (橋梁談合事件, Kyōryō dangō jiken, 'Bridge bid-rigging case') was centered around the use of bid-rigging between 47 colluding Japanese firms and Japan Highway Public Corporation (JH) in the  granting of contracts to build steel bridges in violation of Japanese competition law. It was the biggest such scandal in the history of the nation up to that point, with an estimated 23.5 billion Japanese yen of unfair gains over fiscal years 2003 and 2004.


2005 Japanese bridge scandal, Background and history
The scandal is one example of the long-time practice of dango, where construction companies and bureaucrats exchange favors and kickbacks for a mutually beneficial outcome, causing less competition and increased costs for public infrastructure. In this case, former executives of JH had been given jobs in private firms in exchange for unreleased information about JH construction projects, part of a tradition known as amakudari (天下り, "descent from heaven"). This had an effect on the public purse: an example is where contracts for bridges in Shizuoka Prefecture unfairly awarded in May 2004 increased JH's expenses by 45.7 million yen (US$445,000).


2005 Japanese bridge scandal, Background and history
The parties involved included major steel companies such as Kobe Steel and Nippon Steel, as well as conglomerates such as Nippon Sharyo and Kawasaki. They were represented by two bodies: A-kai (A association) and K-Kai (K-association), which have reportedly existed since 1960. Businesses in both organizations had successfully netted most of the infrastructure orders between FY2002 and FY2004 put forward by regional bureaus of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT).


2005 Japanese bridge scandal, Investigation
On 22 May 2005, prosecutors raided the offices of the 47 firms involved, with eight in particular being focused on. Four days later, employees of 11 companies, including the eight previously scrutinized, were arrested. The then-vice president of JH, Michio Usida, was taken into custody on 25 July and fired from his position on 22 August. On 24 March 2006, the Fair Trade Commission of Japan ordered 44 companies to pay over 12.9 billion yen in surcharges to JH and the MLIT.


2005 Japanese bridge scandal, Aftermath
The Japanese government amended and strengthened anti-bidrigging laws in light of the scandal as well others around the same time. By 2009, it was determined that many of these measures worked, with a substantial decrease in noncompetitive bidding.


2005 Japanese general election
General elections were held in Japan on 11 September 2005 for all 480 seats of the House of Representatives of Japan, the lower house of the Diet of Japan, almost two years before the end of the term taken from the last election in 2003. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called the election after bills to privatize Japan Post were voted down in the upper house (which cannot be dissolved), despite strong opposition within his own Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) (LDP).


2005 Japanese general election
The election handed a landslide victory to Koizumi's LDP, with the party winning 296 seats, the largest share in postwar politics and the first time the LDP had won an overall majority on its own in the House of Representatives since 1990. With its partner, New Komeito, the governing coalition then commanded a two-thirds majority in the lower house, allowing them to pass legislative bills over the objections of the upper house and (though the government did not attempt this) to approve amendments to the Constitution, then submit them to the upper house and a national referendum.


2005 Japanese general election
The opposition Democratic Party (DPJ), which advocated a change of government during campaign, suffered a devastating loss, winning only 113 seats against 175 seats it held going into the election. The setback led the DPJ leader Katsuya Okada to resign, and raised a question whether the DPJ can remain an alternative to the LDP in the future elections.


2005 Japanese general election
The small parties made only small gains or losses, with Koizumi's ally, New Komeito, falling slightly from 34 seats to 31. Of the new parties contesting the election, the New Party Japan fell from three seats to one, while the People's New Party was unchanged at four seats. The Japanese Communist Party held its ground with nine seats, while the Social Democratic Party won seven, a gain of one.


2005 Japanese general election, Background
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi dissolved the House of Representatives and called for new elections on 8 August 2005. The move was made in response to the defeat of bills that would have split Japan Post into four private companies over a period of ten years, on which Koizumi had staked the credibility of his reforms.


2005 Japanese general election, Background
The package was notably unpopular within Koizumi's own Liberal Democratic Party, as retired employees of Japan Post have been strong supporters of the LDP in past elections, and its banking system has bankrolled expensive public work projects, providing business for the LDP's supporters in the construction industry. Koizumi used the threat of an early election to push the bills through the House of Representatives (the lower house), where it was approved by just 5 votes. The same threat was less effective in the upper chamber, the House of Councillors, which the prime minister does not have the power to dissolve.


2005 Japanese general election, Background
On 8 August 2005, 30 LDP members of the House of Councillors joined the opposition in voting 'no' or abstaining to block the legislation. Koizumi had announced that a 'no' vote would be considered equivalent to a no confidence vote against his administration, and thus called a snap election for the House of Representatives.


2005 Japanese general election, Background
The dissolution act itself is relatively without controversy, and is based on Article 7 of the Constitution of Japan, which can be interpreted as saying that the Prime Minister has the power to dissolve the lower house after so advising the Emperor. Many politicians from both the government and the opposition camps, however, had criticized the unusual move of dissolving the lower house following an upper house defeat as both illogical and adversarial. Polls from Asahi Shimbun and others showed that the public supported Koizumi's decision to call an election. The approval rate for Koizumi's Cabinet, in fact, leapt to 46 points when the election was called, and subsequently recovered 50%, a very high rate by Japan's standard.


2005 Japanese general election, Background
Before the dissolution, there was notable dissatisfaction with the decision to dissolve within the LDP, because the LDP and its government partner, New Kōmeitō, feared losing their majority in the lower house, which chooses the Prime Minister. In the previous lower-house election (2003) and upper-house election (2004), the Democratic Party (DPJ) had performed handsomely, while the LDP was barely able to keep its majorities with a reduced number of seats despite the popularity of Koizumi.


2005 Japanese general election, Background
Election analysts ascribed the poor performance of the LDP to Koizumi's reforms that have eroded its traditional supporters such as farmers, "Mom-Pop" shop owners and construction workers, because the reforms, including deregulation and tax cuts, were tuned to help big global corporations like Toyota. Many in the LDP, among whom was Yoshiro Mori, former prime minister and Koizumi's long-time backer, showed a concern that the widening splits between Koizumi and the rebels within his party would help the competing DPJ candidates win seats in highly contested districts.


2005 Japanese general election, Background
At the height of the protest, Koizumi even had to dismiss a member of his Cabinet when he refused to sign the Imperial Ordinance for dissolution. There had also been concern that the so-called "political vacuum", created if both the LDP and the DPJ fail to gain a clear majority, would impede the already sluggish recovery of the Japanese economy.


2005 Japanese general election, Campaign
Prime Minister Koizumi had tried to make the election a referendum on the privatization of Japan Post and reforms that follow, saying that he would step down if the ruling bloc fails to secure a majority. Indeed, the DPJ, which did not have a clear position on the privatization issue previously, was forced to come up with an alternative plan to shrink public savings in Japan Post over years to come. In addition, his personality was featured as prominently as policy in the election, as the electorate were asked to determine whether Koizumi's behavior, variously described as either determined or pugnacious, was acceptable for a Japanese prime minister.


2005 Japanese general election, Campaign
The main opposition Democratic Party (DPJ), consisting of former LDP members and liberals, saw the election as a chance to end the LDP's nearly continuous 50-year control of the government and to start reforms of government spending and employees. Many analysts believed that the DPJ would be less beholden to special interests than the entrenched LDP, and a change of government was vital to lead to a true democracy in Japan. On 10 August, Katsuya Okada, the leader of the DPJ, said that he would resign if the DPJ failed to take over the government, paralleling Koizumi's stated intention.


2005 Japanese general election, Campaign
In domestic policy both the ruling bloc and the DPJ differed little; both concurred in the need to seek small government in general by cutting public works spending and reducing government employees, in contrast to the views of other small parties.


2005 Japanese general election, Campaign
Also, to a degree they did not deny the need for the future increase of the consumption tax and revoke temporary tax cut in order to improve the financial health of the government, which is the worst among the developed countries and nears that in wartime, and to cover the rising social security costs due to Japan's aging and declining population. The DPJ leadership even admitted that, if they won the control of the government, they would not revert Koizumi's four-year-long reforms but redo them with more vigor and thoroughness.


2005 Japanese general election, Campaign
Outside Japan, there was much speculation about how the election could change foreign relations, since foreign policy is one of the major differences between the LDP and the DPJ. The LDP's Koizumi has been notable for his foreign policies supportive of U.S. President George W. Bush. In particular, the administration has faithfully supported the Iraq War, sending JSDF troops to Iraq in spite of public opposition and the country's pacifist constitution.


2005 Japanese general election, Campaign
Moreover, the relationship between Japan and China deteriorated in early 2005, when Koizumi and other conservative Japanese politicians angered China through their visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, amongst other actions. In contrast, Okada, the leader of the main opposition DPJ, said he would pull the troops out of Iraq by December 2005 if he won the government. He also pledged that he would not visit Yasukuni Shrine; this could noticeably improve foreign relations with South Korea and China. However, in Japan, foreign policy issues had drawn almost no attention during the campaign.


2005 Japanese general election, Campaign
Koizumi maintained, as he pledged before calling the election, a position that he would not give official party endorsement to 37 members of his party who voted against the postal bills; that is, the 37 were not allowed to run as members of the party. To compensate for the disadvantages that non-party members suffer under the current election law, four LDP rebels including Shizuka Kamei announced on 17 August their formation of a new party, the People's New Party, to contest the elections.


2005 Japanese general election, Campaign
Four other LDP rebels followed suit days after, forming New Party Japan (not to be confused with the Japan New Party of Morihiro Hosokawa) with a popular Nagano governor Yasuo Tanaka as head. However, most rebels have not joined the new parties, preferring to run as independents so as not to sever their ties with local LDP organizations.


2005 Japanese general election, Campaign
The formation of the new parties, which were largely seen as being solely needed for the election campaign, took place as Koizumi and his party's leadership were actively recruiting candidates to run in single-member districts against the rebels, and were pressuring local organizations to back the new candidates. New LDP candidates include celebrities, bureaucrats, and local politicians, and several rebels exited the race rather than run against their own party. Among the most publicized candidates was maverick businessman Takafumi Horie, who ran as an independent (with tacit LDP backing) against Kamei in Hiroshima District #6, a hot battleground in the last election between the then LDP's Kamei and a DPJ candidate.


2005 Japanese general election, Opinion polls
Pre -election polls had been consistently showing the LDP's solid lead, especially among independent voters in urban areas like Tokyo and other big cities nationwide where its main opposition the DPJ had had a main support base. Newspaper surveys predicted a big victory for the LDP, which could lead the DPJ, young and short on unity, to disintegrate. Election analysts, however, warned that few LDP candidates were enjoying comfortable leads, and there was still a large number of undecided voters who went for the DPJ in the last election, thus the election results were far from being set.


2005 Japanese general election, Results
The actual election results closely matched what the pre-election polls, which experts believed were unlikely to materialize, had predicted. Election results gave the governing coalition 327 seats, more than a two-thirds majority in the lower house. In general, the LDP roughly held its own in rural areas, retaking about half the seats held by rebels, but holding steady or even falling slightly against other parties.


2005 Japanese general election, Results
On the other hand, in urban areas the LDP had a devastating victory, reducing the DPJ from twelve single member constituencies to one in Tokyo, from nine to two in Osaka and from eight to zero in Kanagawa. The so-called 'assassin' candidates recruited by the LDP to stand against the disendorsed party rebels met with mixed success. Although 20 were elected, only 9 of these managed to defeat rebels in single-seat constituencies, with the remaining 11 elected by proportional representation. 5 'assassins' failed to be elected. Another casualty was the prominent independent candidate Takafumi Horie who was defeated by the LDP rebel Shizuka Kamei, now representing the People's New Party.


2005 Japanese general election, Results
One of the biggest landslides in Japanese politics came as a great surprise to virtually everyone, from politicians in both government and opposition camps to political analysts and the general public to finally Junichiro Koizumi himself, who reiterated after the election that he just asked for a majority.


2005 Japanese general election, Results
In particular the DPJ's catastrophic defeats in the capital area (namely Tokyo and Kanagawa) shocked the party's members with no clear strategy to reverse the trends in future elections, as well as the LDP leadership who were now concerned that the LDP might have won such a great victory that it could lead to a swing against the party in the future.


2005 Japanese general election, Results
Analysis of the votes shows that the degree to which the electorate shifted their votes from the LDP to the DPJ was not as considerable as the number of seats exchanged; the LDP won 47.8% of the total votes, up from 43.8%, while the DPJ collected the same percentage (36.4%) as it did in the last lower-house election two years ago. Indeed, New Kōmeitō even lost three seats despite winning more votes than ever.


2005 Japanese general election, Results
Political analysts attribute this discrepancy to, in addition to the historically high turnout (67.5%), the switch of the election system a decade ago from the traditional medium-sized constituency system to today's system that combines single-seat constituencies and multi-member constituencies elected by proportional representation. The irony is that it was Koizumi who was a vocal critic of the switch and the likes of Okada and Ichirō Ozawa, the DPJ's deputy leader, who departed from the LDP to have made the switch in a bid to create the two-party system.


2005 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix
The 2005 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix was the twelfth round of the 2005 MotoGP Championship. It took place on the weekend of 16–18 September 2005 at the Twin Ring Motegi citcuit.


2005 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix, 125 cc classification
The race, scheduled to be run for 21 laps, was stopped after 15 full laps due to an accident and did not restart as two thirds of the race distance had been completed.


2005 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix, Championship standings after the race (motoGP)
Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round twelve has concluded.


2005 Japanese television dramas
This is a list of Japanese television dramas often called doramas by fans.


2005 Jaunpur train bombing
The 2005 Jaunpur train bombing occurred on 28 July 2005, when an explosion destroyed a carriage of Shramjeevi Express train near the town of Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh.


2005 Jaunpur train bombing
The Shramjeevi Express train was travelling in the afternoon between Jaunpur and Delhi when, at 5.15pm, a sudden explosion tore through one of the carriages. The train's crew was able to halt the engine quickly, thus preventing the train derailing following the blast. As other passengers and locals aided those wounded by the blast, emergency services fought to extinguish the burning carriage.


2005 Jaunpur train bombing
Thirteen people were killed by the blast, or died later from their injuries. A further 50 people required medical treatment, including several who underwent amputations. The cause of the explosion was traced to the carriage's toilet, where a bomb using the explosive RDX had detonated. RDX is a military grade explosive which had been used in several terrorist attacks on Indian targets, including the Ayodhya train bombing in June 2000.


2005 Jaunpur train bombing
Eyewitnesses reported two young men who boarded the train at Jaunpur with a white suitcase. Shortly afterwards, both of them leaped from the moving train into fields and ran away without their suitcase. A few minutes later, the explosion shook the carriage.


2005 Jaunpur train bombing
According to officials, it is highly unlikely that this was an accidental explosion, and authorities are attributing it to Islamic extremists.


2005 Java–Bali blackout
The 2005 Java–Bali Blackout was a power outage across Java and Bali on 18 August 2005, affecting some 100 million people.


2005 Java–Bali blackout, Immediate impact
Power went off at around 10:23 am (UTC+7) on 18 August 2005 across most areas of the two islands.


2005 Java–Bali blackout, Cause
A transmission line between Cilegon and Saguling, both in West Java, failed at 10:23 am local time; this led to a cascading failure that shut down two units of the Paiton Power Station in East Java and six units of the Suralaya Power Station in West Java


2005 Java–Bali blackout, Cause
PT. PLN, the state-owned electricity company, confirmed that the electricity grid failed at several points throughout Java and the neighbouring island of Bali, causing a supply shortfall of 2,700 MW, roughly half of the original supply.


2005 Java–Bali blackout, Cause
Jakarta lost power completely, along with Banten and Special Region of Yogyakarta; there were blackouts in parts of Central Java, along with parts of both West Java and East Java.


2005 Java–Bali blackout, Effects
Due to the sudden supply shortfall, power went out in most areas of Java, including all parts of the capital and largest city in Indonesia, Jakarta. Other major cities in Java, such as Surabaya, were also affected.


2005 Java–Bali blackout, Restoration of service
Power resumed in most areas of Jakarta at about 5:00 pm (UTC+7) on the same day.


2005 Java–Bali blackout, Post-blackout
PLN apologised for the incident and said about 293,235 customers will be compensated. Meanwhile, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered police and the national intelligence agency to assist PLN to trace the cause of the blackouts.


2005 Jersey City mayoral election
The Jersey City mayoral election of 2005 was held on May 10, 2005. Democrat Jerramiah Healy was re-elected to a full term, his first, after winning a special election six months earlier.


2005 Jersey general election
Elections were held in 2005 for both Senators and Deputies to the States of Jersey.


2005 Jersey general election, Senator Elections
The elections for Senator were held on 19 October 2005. 6 seats were available. At the Electoral Assembly held on 13 September 2005, 15 candidates were nominated for the 6 available seats:


2005 Jersey general election, Senator Elections
Only one female candidate sought nomination. Two declared parties put forward candidates: the Jersey Democratic Alliance and the Centre Party.


2005 Jersey general election, Deputy Elections
The election for Deputies was held on 23 November. Electoral assemblies were held in all parishes on 25 October. 52 candidates were nominated in contested elections for 23 seats.


2005 Jeux de la Francophonie
The 2005 Jeux de la Francophonie, also known as Ves Jeux de la Francophonie, (French for Francophone Games) were held from December 7–17, 2005 in Niamey, Niger.


2005 Jeux de la Francophonie, Participation
There were a total of 1287 participants from 44 states and governments at the 2005 Games.


2005 Jhalakathi bombing
2005 Jhalakathi bombing was a bombing of a car transporting judges to the District Court of Jhalakathi. Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) claimed responsibility for the bombings. The group, led by Shaykh Abdur Rahman and Siddiqur Rahman (also known as Bangla Bhai).


2005 Jhalakathi bombing, Attacks
Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh is a radical Islamist organization that is demanding the implementation of Sharia Law in Bangladesh. As such they target the judiciary in the attack. On 14 November 2005 a bomb was thrown at a car transporting judges to the District Court of Jhalakathi. The attacks took place Jhalakathi district in southern Bangladesh. The Judges were inside a vehicle. The vehicle was parked as they were waiting for another Judge. The attackers tried to give the judges leaflets which they refused. A bomb was thrown at the vehicle. Two senior assistant judges Sohel Ahmed and Jagannath Pandey, were killed in the bomb attack. A court employee and a bystander were injured in the attack. A 13-year-old school student was also injured. Iftekhar Hossain Mamun the attacker was also injured.


2005 Jhalakathi bombing, Attacker
The 28-year-old attacker, Iftekhar Hasan Al Mamun, was captured injured by the bystanders. He had a bomb strapped to his leg and leaflets calling for Sharia Law. The local handed the suspect over to Rapid Action Battalion and Bangladesh Police.


2005 Jhalakathi bombing, Trial
On 29 May 2006 A court in Jhalakathi awarded death penalty to 7 members of JMB. The verdict was upheld by the High Court of Bangladesh on 31 August 2006. The Appellate Division rejected their appeals on 28 November 2006. On 29 May 2007 6 of the convicts were executed. The last convict was arrested on 10 July 2007. On 28 August 2016 the Supreme court upheld his death sentence. He was executed on 16 October. The Leader and Military leader of JMB Abdur Rahman and Bangla Bhai among those convicted in the case.


2005 Jharkhand Legislative Assembly election
The 2005 Jharkhand Legislative Assembly election was held in three phases from 3 to 23 February 2005 to elect the 81 members of the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly. It was the first election held in Jharkhand to elect the Second Jharkhand Legislative Assembly; the First/Interim Jharkhand Legislative Assembly was constituted based on the 2000 Bihar Legislative Assembly election. Jharkhand was created by carving out the southern districts of Bihar on 15 November 2000. The election resulted in a hung assembly like the first one. No single party or pre-election alliance got the majority. The Bharatiya Janata Party become the biggest party by winning 30 seats. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha got 17 seats and the Indian National Congress got nine seats.