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 CDU Christian Democratic Union of Germany Christian democracy Roland Koch 43.4% SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany Social democracy Gerhard Bökel 39.4% Grüne Alliance 90/The Greens Green politics Evelin Schönhut-KeilTarek Al-Wazir 7.2% FDP Free Democratic Party Classical liberalism Ruth Wagner 5.1%
Opinion polling Polling firm Fieldwork date Samplesize 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
! rowspan=2 colspan=2| Party ! colspan=3| Constituency ! colspan=4| Party list ! rowspan=2| Totalseats ! rowspan=2| +/- |- ! Votes ! % ! Seats ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Christian Democratic Union | 1,411,800 | 51.99 | 53 | 1,333,863 | 48.77 | +5.36 | 3 | 56 | 6 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Social Democratic Party | 898,813 | 33.10 | 2 | 795,576 | 29.09 | -10.28 | 31 | 33 | 13 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Alliance 90/The Greens | 230,261 | 8.48 | 0 | 276,276 | 10.10 | +2.92 | 12 | 12 | 4 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Free Democratic Party | 148,632 | 5.47 | 0 | 216,110 | 7.90 | +2.80 | 9 | 9 | 3 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| The Republicans | 7,025 | 0.26 | 0 | 34,563 | 1.26 | -1.42 | 0 | 0 | 0 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Human Environment Animal Protection Party | 4,815 | 0.18 | 0 | 20,600 | 0.75 | +0.29 | 0 | 0 | 0
| align=left| Airport Expansion Opponents | colspan=3| – | 17,736 | 0.65 | New | 0 | 0 | New |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Party for a Rule of Law Offensive | 3,074 | 0.11 | 0 | 14,545 | 0.53 | New | 0 | 0 | New |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Feminist Party of Germany | 1,090 | 0.04 | 0 | 7,506 | 0.27 | +0.04 | 0 | 0 | 0 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Party of Bible-abiding Christians | 1,465 | 0.05 | 0 | 6,674 | 0.24 | +0.07 | 0 | 0 | 0 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| German Communist Party | 2,552 | 0.09 | 0 | 5,908 | 0.22 | +0.08 | 0 | 0 | 0 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Ecological Democratic Party | 378 | 0.01 | 0 | 2,683 | 0.10 | +0.02 | 0 | 0 | 0 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Civil Rights Movement Soliarity | 873 | 0.03 | 0 | 1,643 | 0.06 | +0.04 | 0 | 0 | 0 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Socialist Equality Party | colspan=3| – | 1,309 | 0.05 | New | 0 | 0 | New |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Independents | 4,555 | 0.17 | 0 | colspan=4| – | 0 | 0 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Socialist Alternative | 356 | 0.01 | 0 | colspan=4| – | 0 | New |- class="sortbottom" ! colspan=2| Total ! 2,715,689 ! 100.00 ! 55 ! 2,734,992 ! 100.00 ! ! 55 ! 110 ! 0 |- | colspan=2 align=center| Invalid | 82,845 | 2.96 | | 63,542 | 2.27 | colspan=4| |- ! colspan=2| Turnout ! 2,798,534 ! 64.62 ! ! 2,798,534 ! 64.62 ! -1.83 ! colspan=4| |- | colspan=2 align=center| Registered voters | 4,330,792 | colspan=2| | 4,330,792 | colspan=5|
Sources The Federal Returning Officer