Lower Saxony state election, 2003

• SPD: 63
• Green: 14
• FDP: 15
• CDU: 91

The elections to the 15th Parliament of Lower Saxony took place from 2 February 2003. Was chosen in 100 constituencies. The minimum number of marks seats in the parliament of Lower Saxony was 155 for each resulting overhang mandate additional compensation mandate was added so that the total number of seats in parliament is always odd.

Official final result

Initial situation

In this state election, the SPD - alone government presented by Prime Minister Sigmar Gabriel first re-election. Gabriel had the premiership in 1999 taken over from its predecessor Gerhard Glogowski, who had again become Prime Minister in October 1998, after his predecessor Gerhard Schroeder was elected chancellor.

For the CDU came for the third time Christian Wulff as a top candidate who was defeated in the parliamentary elections of 1994 and 1998, Gerhard Schröder.

The state election was superimposed by federal political aspects: Chancellor Schröder, 1990-1998 himself prime minister in Lower Saxony, had been re-elected in October 2002 as Chancellor.

The start of his second term was referred to in the media almost constantly to be suboptimal fails, so that a nationwide negative trend at the expense of the SPD developed.

Result

The SPD lost its absolute majority and had after thirteen years of government responsibility back to the opposition.

Christian Wulff was able to form a black-yellow government and was the third attempt, Prime Minister of Lower Saxony.

Sigmar Gabriel was opposition leader.