Lower Saxony state election, 2003

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Lower Saxony state election, 2003
Lower Saxony
1998 ←
 2 February 2003 (2003-02-02) → 2008
All 183 seats in the Landtag of Lower Saxony
  First party Second party
  Landtag Niedersachsen DSCF7769.JPG Sigmar Gabriel (2012).jpg
Leader Christian Wulff Sigmar Gabriel
Party CDU SPD
Last election 62 seats, 39,9% 83 seats, 47,9%
Seats before 62 83
Seats won 91 63
Seat change Increase29 Decrease20
Popular vote 1.925.055 1.330.156
Percentage 48,3% 33,6%
Swing Increase12,4 Decrease14,5
Ministerpräsident before election

Sigmar Gabriel
SPD

 Resulting Ministerpräsident

Christian Wulff
CDU

The 2003 Lower Saxony state election was held in Lower Saxony in north-western Germany on 2 February 2003. The incumbent Social Democratic Party was defeated by the opposition Christian Democratic Union.

Background[edit]

The election in Lower Saxony had larger significance than just in the state itself.[1] Defeat for the Social Democrats in the election would mean they lost their slim majority in the upper house of the German parliament, the Bundesrat.[1] It was thought this might cause the collapse of Gerhard Schröder's national coalition government between the Social Democrats and the Green Party.[1]

Campaign[edit]

The economy was seen as the most important issue in the election, with the Social Democrats suffering as a result.[2]

Opinion polls in December 2002 showed the Christian Democrats in the lead with 43% as against 34% for the Social Democrats.[3]

Results[edit]

Seat results -- SPD in red, CDU in black, Greens in green, FDP in yellow
e • d Summary of the 2 February 2003 election results for the Landtag of Lower Saxony
Party Party list votes Vote % (change) Seats (change) Seat %
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) 1,925,055 48.3% +12.4% 91 +29 49.7%
Social Democratic Party (SPD) 1,330,156 33.4% -14.5% 63 -20 34.4%
Free Democratic Party (FDP) 323,107 8.1% +3.2% 15 +15 8.2%
Green Party (Bündnis 90/Grünen) 304,532 7.6% +0.6% 14 +2 7.7%
Law and Order Offensive Party 40,342 1.0% +1.0% 0 - 0.0%
Party of Democratic Socialism 21,560 0.5% +0.3% 0 - 0%
Others 39,257 1.0% -3.0% 0 - 0%
Total 3,984,009 100.0%   183 +26 100.0%
Sources: Parties and Elections in Europe and Adam Carr's Election Archive

Aftermath[edit]

The SPD vote share fell dramatically, and Christian Wulff (CDU) was able to form a CDU-FDP coalition and become Prime Minister instead of Sigmar Gabriel (SPD).

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Hall, Allan (2002-12-01). "The joke's on Schroder as Germans seek serious answers to economic crisis". Scotland on Sunday. p. 21. 
  2. ^ "State voters reject Schroeder". CNN. 2003-02-03. Retrieved 2009-09-20. 
  3. ^ Hall, Allan (2002-12-26). "Germany is desperately seeking Schroder as chancellor loses his grip". The Scotsman. p. 9. 
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