2003 Hessian state election

The 2003 Hessian state election was held on 2 February 2003 to elect the members of the Landtag of Hesse. The incumbent coalition government of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) led by Minister-President Roland Koch was returned with an increased majority. The CDU recorded a 5.4% swing in its favour, winning an absolute majority of seats. It subsequently formed government alone, with Roland Koch continuing in office.

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the previous Landtag of Hesse.

Name			Ideology	Leader(s)	1999 result
					Votes (%)	Seats
bgcolor=Template:Party color |	CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands	Christian democracy	Roland Koch	43.4%	Template:Composition bar
bgcolor=Template:Party color |	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social democracy	Gerhard Bökel	39.4%	Template:Composition bar
bgcolor=Template:Party color |	Grüne	Alliance 90/The Greens Bündnis 90/Die Grünen	Green politics	Evelin Schönhut-Keil Tarek Al-Wazir	7.2%	Template:Composition bar
bgcolor=Template:Party color |	FDP	Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei	Classical liberalism	Ruth Wagner	5.1%	Template:Composition bar

Opinion polling

Polling firm	Fieldwork date	Sample size	CDU	SPD	Grüne	FDP	Others	Lead
			style="background:Template:Party color;"|	style="background:Template:Party color;"|	style="background:Template:Party color;"|	style="background:Template:Party color;"|
2003 state election	2 February 2003	–	48.8	29.1	10.1	7.9	4.1	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 19.7
Forsa	31 Jan 2003	?	49	29	11	8	3	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 20
Forsa	20–24 Jan 2003	1,012	51	29	10	7	3	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 22
Forsa	13–18 Jan 2003	1,078	50	31	10	5	4	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 19
Infratest dimap	16–19 Jan 2003	1,000	48	31	11	7	3	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 17
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	13–16 Jan 2003	1,036	48	32	10	7	3	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 16
Forsa	6–10 Jan 2003	1,003	48	33	10	5	4	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 15
Infratest dimap	2–7 Jan 2003	1,000	47	33	10	5	5	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 14
Forsa	27 Dec–3 Jan 2003	1,120	47	32	12	5	4	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 15
Infratest dimap	2–4 Dec 2002	1,000	49	32	11	5	3	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 17
dimap	13 May 2002	?	45	35	6	9	5	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 10
Forsa	18 Jan 2001	?	40	39	8	7	6	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 1
Infratest dimap	28–31 Jan 2000	1,000	35	44	9	7	5	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 9
Ipos	19–21 Jan 2000	1,004	33	46	11	5	5	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 13
1999 state election	7 February 1999	–	43.4	39.4	7.2	5.1	4.9	style="background:Template:Party color;color:#FFFFFF;"| 4.0

Election result

Summary of the 2 February 2003 election results for the Landtag of HesseTemplate:Election table/category

Party		Constituency			Party list				Total seats	+/-
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	+/-	Seats
bgcolor=Template:Party color|	Christian Democratic Union	1,411,800	51.99	53	1,333,863	48.77	+5.36	3	56	Increase 6
bgcolor=Template:Party color|	Social Democratic Party	898,813	33.10	2	795,576	29.09	-10.28	31	33	Decrease 13
bgcolor=Template:Party color|	Alliance 90/The Greens	230,261	8.48	0	276,276	10.10	+2.92	12	12	Increase 4
bgcolor=Template:Party color|	Free Democratic Party	148,632	5.47	0	216,110	7.90	+2.80	9	9	Increase 3
bgcolor=Template:Party color|	The Republicans	7,025	0.26	0	34,563	1.26	-1.42	0	0	Template:Nochange 0
bgcolor=Template:Party color|	Human Environment Animal Protection Party	4,815	0.18	0	20,600	0.75	+0.29	0	0	Template:Nochange 0
	Airport Expansion Opponents	–			17,736	0.65	New	0	0	New
bgcolor=Template:Party color|	Party for a Rule of Law Offensive	3,074	0.11	0	14,545	0.53	New	0	0	New
bgcolor=Template:Party color|	Feminist Party of Germany	1,090	0.04	0	7,506	0.27	+0.04	0	0	Template:Nochange 0
bgcolor=Template:Party color|	Party of Bible-abiding Christians	1,465	0.05	0	6,674	0.24	+0.07	0	0	Template:Nochange 0
bgcolor=Template:Party color|	German Communist Party	2,552	0.09	0	5,908	0.22	+0.08	0	0	Template:Nochange 0
bgcolor=Template:Party color|	Ecological Democratic Party	378	0.01	0	2,683	0.10	+0.02	0	0	Template:Nochange 0
bgcolor=Template:Party color|	Civil Rights Movement Soliarity	873	0.03	0	1,643	0.06	+0.04	0	0	Template:Nochange 0
bgcolor=Template:Party color|	Socialist Equality Party	–			1,309	0.05	New	0	0	New
bgcolor=Template:Party color|	Independents	4,555	0.17	0	–				0	Template:Nochange 0
bgcolor=Template:Party color|	Socialist Alternative	356	0.01	0	–				0	New
Total		2,715,689	100.00	55	2,734,992	100.00		55	110	Template:Nochange 0
Invalid		82,845	2.96		63,542	2.27
Turnout		2,798,534	64.62		2,798,534	64.62	-1.83
Registered voters		4,330,792			4,330,792

Sources

• The Federal Returning Officer