# 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 | Name | Name | Ideology | Leader(s) | 1999 result | 1999 result |
| Name | Name | Name | Ideology | Leader(s) | Votes (%) | Seats |
| | CDU | Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands | Christian democracy | Roland Koch | 43.4% | 50 / 110 |
| | SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands | Social democracy | Gerhard Bökel | 39.4% | 46 / 110 |
| | Grüne | Alliance 90/The Greens Bündnis 90/Die Grünen | Green politics | Evelin Schönhut-Keil Tarek Al-Wazir | 7.2% | 8 / 110 |
| | FDP | Free Democratic Party Freie Demokratische Partei | Classical liberalism | Ruth Wagner | 5.1% | 6 / 110 |

## Opinion polling

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

## Election result

Summary of the 2 February 2003 election results for the Landtag of Hesse :
| Party | Party | Constituency | Constituency | Constituency | Party list | Party list | Party list | Party list | Total seats | +/- |
| Party | Party | Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | +/- | Seats | Total seats | +/- |
| | Christian Democratic Union | 1,411,800 | 51.99 | 53 | 1,333,863 | 48.77 | +5.36 | 3 | 56 | 6 |
| | Social Democratic Party | 898,813 | 33.10 | 2 | 795,576 | 29.09 | -10.28 | 31 | 33 | 13 |
| | Alliance 90/The Greens | 230,261 | 8.48 | 0 | 276,276 | 10.10 | +2.92 | 12 | 12 | 4 |
| | Free Democratic Party | 148,632 | 5.47 | 0 | 216,110 | 7.90 | +2.80 | 9 | 9 | 3 |
| | The Republicans | 7,025 | 0.26 | 0 | 34,563 | 1.26 | -1.42 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Human Environment Animal Protection Party | 4,815 | 0.18 | 0 | 20,600 | 0.75 | +0.29 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Airport Expansion Opponents | – | – | – | 17,736 | 0.65 | New | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Party for a Rule of Law Offensive | 3,074 | 0.11 | 0 | 14,545 | 0.53 | New | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Feminist Party of Germany | 1,090 | 0.04 | 0 | 7,506 | 0.27 | +0.04 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Party of Bible-abiding Christians | 1,465 | 0.05 | 0 | 6,674 | 0.24 | +0.07 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | German Communist Party | 2,552 | 0.09 | 0 | 5,908 | 0.22 | +0.08 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Ecological Democratic Party | 378 | 0.01 | 0 | 2,683 | 0.10 | +0.02 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Civil Rights Movement Soliarity | 873 | 0.03 | 0 | 1,643 | 0.06 | +0.04 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Socialist Equality Party | – | – | – | 1,309 | 0.05 | New | 0 | 0 | New |
| | Independents | 4,555 | 0.17 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 0 | 0 |
| | Socialist Alternative | 356 | 0.01 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 0 | New |
| Total | Total | 2,715,689 | 100.00 | 55 | 2,734,992 | 100.00 | | 55 | 110 | 0 |
| Invalid | Invalid | 82,845 | 2.96 | | 63,542 | 2.27 | | | | |
| Turnout | Turnout | 2,798,534 | 64.62 | | 2,798,534 | 64.62 | -1.83 | | | |
| Registered voters | Registered voters | 4,330,792 | | | 4,330,792 | | | | | |

## Sources

* The Federal Returning Officer