Dutch general election, 2003

Dutch general election, 2003
Dutch general election, 2003
Netherlands
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
  Jan Peter Balkenende Wouter Bos Gerrit Zalm
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
  Jan Marijnissen Replace this image male Femke Halsema
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
  Thom de Graaf André Rouvoet Bas van der Vlies
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%

Tk 2003.png

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.

Contents

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.

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

Netherlands

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



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