2003 Lower Saxony state election

2003 Lower Saxony state election

← 1998 2 February 2003 2008 →

All 183 seats in the Landtag of Lower Saxony
92 seats needed for a majority
Turnout3,984,009 (67.0%)
Decrease 6.8%
  First party Second party
 
Leader Christian Wulff Sigmar Gabriel
Party CDU SPD
Last election 62 seats, 35.9% 83 seats, 47.9%
Seats won 91 63
Seat change Increase 29 Decrease 20
Popular vote 1,925,055 1,330,156
Percentage 48.3% 33.4%
Swing Increase 12.4% Decrease 14.5%

  Third party Fourth party
 
Party FDP Greens
Last election 0 seats, 4.9% 12 seats, 7.0%
Seats won 15 14
Seat change Increase 15 Increase 2
Popular vote 323,107 304,532
Percentage 8.1% 7.6%
Swing Increase 3.2% Increase 0.6%

Results for the single-member constituencies

Minister-President before election

Sigmar Gabriel
SPD

Elected Minister-President

Christian Wulff
CDU

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 was subsequently elected minister-president.