2003 Dutch general election

Dutch general election, 2003

22 January 2003
All 150 seats to the House of Representatives 76 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	80.0%
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%
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Prime Minister before election Jan Peter Balkenende CDA Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende CDA

General elections were held in the Netherlands on 22 January 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

See also: 2003 Dutch cabinet formation

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.

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Christian Democratic Appeal	2,763,480	28.6	44	+1
Labour Party	2,631,363	27.3	42	+19
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	1,728,707	17.9	28	+4
Socialist Party	609,723	6.3	9	0
Pim Fortuyn List	549,975	5.7	8	–18
GreenLeft	495,802	5.1	8	–2
Democrats 66	393,333	4.1	6	–1
ChristianUnion	204,649	2.1	3	–1
Reformed Political Party	150,305	1.6	2	0
Party for the Animals	47,754	0.5	0	New
Livable Netherlands	38,894	0.4	0	–2
Party for the Future	13,845	0.1	0	0
Ratelband List	9,045	0.1	0	New
Durable Netherlands	7,271	0.1	0	0
New Communist Party of the Netherlands	4,854	0.1	0	New
Conservatieven.nl	2,521	0.0	0	New
Progressive Integration Party	1,623	0.0	0	New
Alliance for Renewal and Democracy	990	0.0	0	New
Veldhoen List	296	0.0	0	New
Invalid/blank votes	12,127	–	–	–
Total	9,666,602	100	150	0
Registered voters/turnout	12,076,711	79.9	–	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver, European Elections Database

Popular Vote
CDA			28.62%
PvdA			27.26%
VVD			17.91%
SP			6.32%
LPF			5.70%
GL			5.14%
D66			4.07%
CU			2.12%
SGP			1.56%
PvdD			0.49%
Other			0.82%