The 2003 Lower Saxony state election was held on 2 February 2003 to elect the members of the 15th Landtag of Lower Saxony. The incumbent Social Democratic Party (SPD) majority government led by Minister-President Sigmar Gabriel 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 of Germany, Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he previously ...

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 Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German former politician and Lobbying, lobbyist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (S ...

's national coalition government between the Social Democrats and the Green Party.

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, is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of qu ...

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 , Social Democratic Party (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 (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 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

February 2003 in Germany