Dutch general election, 2003

Dutch general election, 2003

2002 ← January 22, 2003 → 2006

All 150 seats to the House of Representatives 76 seats were needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   Leader Jan Peter Balkenende Wouter Bos Gerrit Zalm Party CDA PvdA VVD Leader since 2001 2002 2002 Last election 43 seats, 27,9% 23 seats, 15,1% 24 seats, 15,5% Seats won 44 42 28 Seat change +1 +19 +4 Popular vote 2.763.480 2.631.363 1.728.707 Percentage 28,6% 27,2% 17,9%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Jan Marijnissen Mat Herben Femke Halsema Party SP LPF GL Leader since 1988 2002 2002 Last election 9 seats, 5,9% 26 seats, 17,0% 10 seats, 7,0% Seats won 9 8 8 Seat change 0 -18 -2 Popular vote 609.723 549.975 495.802 Percentage 6,3% 5,6% 5,1%   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   Leader Thom de Graaf André Rouvoet Bas van der Vlies Party D66 CU SGP Leader since 1998 2002 1986 Last election 7 seats, 5,1% 4 seats, 2,5% 2 seats, 1,7% Seats won 6 3 3 Seat change -1 -1 0 Popular vote 393,333 204,694 150.305 Percentage 4,0% 2,1% 1,5%

Seats

Prime Minister before election Jan Peter Balkenende CDA Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende CDA

The General Election to the House of Representatives of the States-General of the Netherlands was held in the Netherlands on January 22, 2003.

Background

The election was held following the resignation of the first Balkenende cabinet on 16 October 2002 after conflicts attributed to the LPF, the new party of the already deceased Pim Fortuyn.

In the early days of the campaign the CDA of incumbent prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende and the VVD, the smallest coalition party, saw a major lead.

After TV debates the PvdA (which had experienced a landslide defeat in the 2002 general election) of opposition leader Wouter Bos caught up, overtaking the VVD and regaining some of the territory lost in the previous election. The PvdA also held a leadership election which got the party considerable attention.

Results

The LPF lost as spectacularly as it won in 2002, with its seat count dropping from 26 to 8.

The exciting race of which party would become the largest was eventually won by the CDA, which went from 43 to 44 seats, ensuring a continuation of Balkenende’s career as prime minister.

Most of the smaller parties on both the left and right side did not experience significant changes. Several other parties (among them Leefbaar Nederland, a 2002 newcomer) didn’t manage to get over the threshold and thus gained no seats. They are not listed here.

After severe disagreements had frustrated the formation of a CDA-PvdA cabinet, a CDA-VVD-D66 cabinet was formed on 27 May 2003, with Balkenende as prime minister.

See also: 2003 Dutch cabinet formation

National Summary

e • d Summary of the 22 January 2003 Dutch House of Representatives election results

Parties	Lijsttrekker	Votes	Seats	+/-	Vote %	Seat %
Christian Democratic Appeal	Jan Peter Balkenende	2,763,480	44	+1	28.6	29.3
Labour Party	Wouter Bos	2,631,363	42	+19	27.3	28.0
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	Gerrit Zalm	1,728,707	28	+4	17.9	18.7
Socialist Party	Jan Marijnissen	609,723	9	0	6.3	6.0
Pim Fortuyn List	Mat Herben	549,975	8	-18	5.7	5.3
GreenLeft	Femke Halsema	495,802	8	-2	5.1	5.3
Democrats 66	Thom de Graaf	393,333	6	-1	4.1	4.0
Christian Union	André Rouvoet	204,694	3	-1	2.1	2.0
Political Reformed Party	Bas van der Vlies	150,305	2	0	1.6	1.3
Total (turnout 80.0 %)		9,654,475	150	0	98.7	100.0

Parties

• Christian Democratic Appeal (Christen-Democratisch Appèl, CDA)
• Christian Union (ChristenUnie, CU)
• Democrats 66 (Democraten 66, D66)
• Green Left (GroenLinks, GL)
• Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid, PvdA)
• Pim Fortuyn List (Lijst Pim Fortuyn, LPF)
• People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie, VVD)
• Political Reformed Party (Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij, SGP)
• Socialist Party (Socialistische Partij, SP)

Further reading

• Van Holsteyn, Joop J. M.; and Galen A. Irwin (January 2004). "The Dutch parliamentary elections of 2003". West European Politics 27 (1): 157–164. doi:10.1080/01402380412331280853. 

External resources

• NSD: European Election Database - Netherlands publishes regional level election data (NUTS 1-3); allows for comparisons of election results, 1994-2010

Netherlands

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the Netherlands

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