loyalist, resigned after four days as minister for sport, claiming that Santana Lopes lacked "loyalty and truth". Santana Lopes announced the resignation of the government on 11 December so that his Government would assume just a caretaker role until the election. He went on to be defeated in the 2005 legislative elections which was won by the Socialist Party led by José Sócrates. Santana resigned as party leader two days later, although he still briefly assumed the informal position of leader of the opposition, until the election of Luís Marques Mendes as new party leader. Subsequent career and activities Despite his defeat in the 2005 legislative elections, Santana Lopes retained his seat at the Assembly of the Republic. He would also resume his functions as mayor of Lisbon, which had been suspended since he took office as prime minister. However, he decided not to seek another term on the 2005 local elections, being succeeded by his deputy, Carmona Rodrigues, who had replaced him during his premiership. In October 2007, after the election of Luís Filipe Menezes as leader of the Social Democratic Party, he was invited to lead the PSD Parliamentary Group, a position he held until Menezes' resignation in June 2008. On the 2009 local elections, Santana Lopes ran again for mayor of Lisbon, supported by his party and by the CDS - People's Party, the Earth Party and the People's Monarchist Party. This coalition was, however, unable to prevent the Socialist Party, led by António Costa, to achieve a big victory. Santana Lopes assumed the position of leader of the opposition in the municipality. In September 2011, Santana Lopes was nominated by Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho to assume leadership of Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa, a charity that runs Portugal's national lottery. In March 2016, the new prime minister, António Costa, nominated Santana Lopes for a new term. In October 2017, Santana Lopes announced the intention to run again for the leadership of the Social Democratic Party. He resigned leadership of Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa in order to do so, but was defeated by Rui Rio. After the internal election, both Rio and Santana tried to cooperate on several levels within the party, an effort which was not successful from Santana's point of view. He grew increasingly disgruntled with the course of action imposed by Rui Rio, and in June 2018 he announced he