The 2003 Lower Saxony state election was held on 2 February 2003 to elect the members of the 15th

Landtag of Lower Saxony The Lower Saxon Landtag () or the Parliament of Lower Saxony is the state diet of the German state of Lower Saxony. It convenes in Hanover and currently consists of 146 members, consisting of four parties. Since 2022 the majority is a coalitio ...

. The incumbent

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

(SPD) majority government led by

Minister-President A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. I ...

Sigmar Gabriel Sigmar Hartmut Gabriel (born 12 September 1959) is a German politician who was the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2017 to 2018 and the vice-chancellor of Germany from 2013 to 2018. He was Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germa ...

was defeated. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) came up one seat short of a majority, and formed a coalition with the Free Democratic Party (FDP). CDU leader

Christian Wulff Christian Wilhelm Walter Wulff (; born 1959) is a retired German politician and lawyer who served as President of Germany from 2010 to 2012. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he previously served as minister president of the ...

was subsequently elected minister-president.

Background

The election in Lower Saxony had larger significance than just in the state itself. 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. It was thought this might cause the collapse of

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German lobbyist and former politician, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germa ...

's national coalition government between the Social Democrats and the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

Campaign and issues

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

Opinion poll An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinion ...

s in December 2002 showed the Christian Democrats in the lead with 43% as against 34% for the Social Democrats.

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 14th Landtag of Lower Saxony.

Opinion polling

Election result

, - ! colspan="2" , Party ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- ! Seats % , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , align= 1,925,055 , align= 48.3 , align= 12.4 , align= 91 , align= 29 , align= 49.7 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left ,

(SPD) , align= 1,330,156 , align= 33.4 , align= 14.5 , align= 63 , align= 20 , align= 34.4 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Free Democratic Party (FDP) , align= 323,107 , align= 8.1 , align= 3.2 , align= 15 , align= 15 , align= 8.2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne) , align= 304,532 , align= 7.6 , align= 0.6 , align= 14 , align= 2 , align= 7.7 , - ! colspan=8, , - , bgcolor=#63B8FF, , align=left ,

Party for a Rule of Law Offensive The Party for a Rule of Law Offensive, Rule of Law State Offensive Party,, Party for the Promotion of the Rule of Law, Law and Order Offensive Party, or Party of Law and Order Offensive (german: Partei Rechtsstaatlicher Offensive),''Rechtsstaat'' i ...

(Schill party) , align= 40,342 , align= 1.0 , align= New , align= 0 , align= New , align= 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) , align= 21,560 , align= 0.5 , align= 0.5 , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left , Others , align= 39,257 , align= 1.0 , align= , align= 0 , align= ±0 , align= 0 , - ! align=right colspan=2, Total ! align= 3,984,009 ! align= 100.0 ! align= ! align= 183 ! align= 26 ! align= , - ! align=right colspan=2, Voter turnout ! align= ! align= 67.0 ! align= 6.8 ! align= ! align= ! align=

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lower Saxony State Election, 2003 2003 elections in Germany 2003 February 2003 events in Europe