In the summer of 2004, PSD Prime Minister José Manuel Durão Barroso, resigned to become president of the European Commission and in order to avoid an early general election, President Jorge Sampaio invited Pedro Santana Lopes to form a new PSD/CDS-PP coalition government. Due to low popularity and what was seen as the inept handling of the country by the new Prime Minister, parliament was dissolved after just four months on 30 November 2004 and a new general election was scheduled for February 2005.