Lower Saxony state election, 2003

Lower Saxony state election, 2003
All 183 seats in the Landtag of Lower Saxony
Ministerpräsident before election; Sigmar Gabriel ; SPD	Resulting Ministerpräsident; Christian Wulff ; CDU

Last updated April 20, 2019

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.

Lower Saxony is a German state (Land) situated in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with 47,624 km² (18,388 sq mi), and fourth-largest in population among the 16 Länder federated as the Federal Republic of Germany. In rural areas, Northern Low Saxon and Saterland Frisian are still spoken, but the number of speakers is declining.

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central and Western Europe, lying between the Baltic and North Seas to the north, and the Alps, Lake Constance and the High Rhine to the south. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, and Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands to the west.

The incumbent is the current holder of an office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent(s). For example, in the Hungarian presidential election, 2017, János Áder was the incumbent, because he had been the president in the term before the term for which the election sought to determine the president. A race without an incumbent is referred to as an open seat.

Background

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]

The German Bundesrat is a legislative body that represents the sixteen Länder of Germany at the national level. The Bundesrat meets at the former Prussian House of Lords in Berlin. Its second seat is located in the former West German capital of Bonn.

Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder is a German politician, and served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005, during which his most important political project was the Agenda 2010. As a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), he led a coalition government of the SPD and the Greens.

Campaign

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]

An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a poll or a survey, 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 questions and then extrapolating generalities in ratio or within confidence intervals.

Results

Summary of the 2 February 2003 election results for the 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 137 members consisting of five parties. Since 2017 the majority has been a coalition of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union, supporting the cabinet of Minister-President Stephan Weil (SPD).

e • d
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

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).

Christian Wilhelm Walter Wulff is a German politician and lawyer. He served as President of Germany from 2010 to 2012. A member of the Christian Democratic Union, he served as Prime Minister of the state of Lower Saxony from 2003 to 2010. He was elected President in the 30 June 2010 presidential election, defeating opposition candidate Joachim Gauck and taking office immediately, although he was not sworn in until 2 July.

Sigmar Hartmut Gabriel is a German politician who was Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2017 to 2018 and Vice-Chancellor of Germany from 2013 to 2018. He was Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 2009 to 2017, which made him the party's longest-serving leader since Willy Brandt. He was the Federal Minister of the Environment from 2005 to 2009 and the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy from 2013 to 2017. From 1999 to 2003 Gabriel was Prime Minister of Lower Saxony.

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The Christian Social Union in Bavaria is a Christian-democratic and conservative political party in Germany. The CSU operates only in Bavaria while its larger counterpart, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), operates in the other fifteen states of Germany. It differs from the CDU by being somewhat more conservative in social matters. The CSU is considered an effective successor of the Weimar-era Catholic Bavarian People's Party (BVP).

The Free Democratic Party is a liberal and classical liberal political party in Germany. The FDP is led by Christian Lindner.

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References

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

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[joke-1] 1 2 3 Hall, Allan (2002-12-01). "The joke's on Schroder as Germans seek serious answers to economic crisis". Scotland on Sunday. p. 21.

[reject-2] "State voters reject Schroeder". CNN . 2003-02-03. Retrieved 2009-09-20.

[desperately-3] Hall, Allan (2002-12-26). "Germany is desperately seeking Schroder as chancellor loses his grip". The Scotsman. p. 9.

v t e Elections in Lower Saxony
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See also: Brunswick Landtag elections in the Weimar Republic Elections in the Free State of Prussia