2003 Bavarian state election

The 2003 Bavarian state election was held on 21 September 2003 to elect the members to the 15th Landtag of Bavaria. The Christian Social Union (CSU) led by Minister-President Edmund Stoiber achieved the largest majority in German history, winning 69% of the seats in the Landtag. This election was the first and to date only time a single party won a two-thirds supermajority of seats in any German state parliament. The CSU also won its largest proportion of the popular vote since 1974, at 60.7%.

2003 Bavarian state election

21 September 2003
All 180 seats in the Landtag of Bavaria 91 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	10,248,735 (57.1%) 12.7%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Edmund Stoiber Franz Maget Sepp Daxenberger Party CSU SPD Green Last election 123 seats, 52.9% 67 seats, 28.7% 14 seats, 5.7% Seats won 124 41 15 Seat change 1 26 1 Popular vote 6,217,864 2,012,265 793,050 Percentage 60.7% 19.6% 7.7% Swing 7.8% 9.1% 2.1%
Minister-President before election Edmund Stoiber CSU Elected Minister-President Edmund Stoiber CSU

The election was marked by a major decline in turnout, falling by almost 13 points to 57%. As a result, despite achieving its best result in decades, the CSU won 230,000 votes fewer than it had in the 1998 election.

Parties

The table below lists parties represented in the 14th Landtag of Bavaria.

Name			Ideology	Leader(s)	1998 result
					Votes (%)	Seats
	CSU	Christian Social Union in Bavaria Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern	Christian democracy	Edmund Stoiber	52.9%	123 / 204
	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social democracy	Franz Maget	28.7%	67 / 204
	Grüne	Alliance 90/The Greens Bündnis 90/Die Grünen	Green politics	Sepp Daxenberger	5.7%	14 / 204

Opinion polling

Polling firm	Fieldwork date	Sample size	CSU	SPD	Grüne	FW	FDP	Others	Lead
2003 state election	21 Sep 2003	–	60.7	19.6	7.7	4.0	2.6	5.4[lower-alpha 1]	41.1
Infratest dimap	6–10 Sep 2003	1,000	59	20	8	4	4	5	39
Forsa	1–5 Sep 2003	1,006	61	20	8	–	4	7	41
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen	1–4 Sep 2003	1,033	60	22	8	4	3	3	38
Forsa	4–8 Aug 2003	1,001	61	21	8	–	3	7	40
Forsa	1–11 Jul 2003	1,266	59	24	8	–	3	6	35
Infratest dimap	14–18 May 2003	1,000	60	22	8	–	4	6	38
GMS	13–18 Feb 2003	1,004	60.0	23.0	6.5	0.5	4.0	6.0[lower-alpha 2]	37
Infratest dimap	2–5 Jan 2003	1,000	61	24	7	–	3	5	37
Infratest dimap	31 Jul–4 Aug 2002	1,000	57	26	5	–	5	7	31
Infratest dimap	3–7 Apr 2002	1,000	55	28	5	–	4	8[lower-alpha 3]	27
Infratest dimap	7–12 Jan 2002	1,000	56	27	6	–	4	7[lower-alpha 4]	29
GMS	15 Nov–21 Dec 2001	2,014	55.0	27.5	5.0	1.5	3.5	7.5[lower-alpha 5]	27.5
Infratest dimap	9–13 Jul 2001	1,000	54	29	7	–	3	7[lower-alpha 6]	25
Infratest dimap	3–6 Jan 2001	1,000	54	28	7	–	4	7[lower-alpha 7]	26
Infratest dimap	26 Jun–1 Jul 2000	1,000	57	27	6	–	3	7[lower-alpha 8]	30
Infratest dimap	3–7 Jan 2000	1,000	60	25	5	–	1	9[lower-alpha 9]	35
Infratest dimap	August 1999	?	60	24	5	–	2	9[lower-alpha 10]	36
1998 state election	13 Sep 1998	–	52.9	28.7	5.7	3.7	1.7	7.3[lower-alpha 11]	24.2

Election result

Summary of the 21 September 2003 election results for the Landtag of Bavaria

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-	Seats %
	Christian Social Union (CSU)	6,217,864	60.7	7.8	124	1	68.9
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	2,012,265	19.6	9.1	41	26	22.8
	Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)	793,050	7.7	2.1	15	1	8.3
	Free Voters of Bavaria (FW)	411,306	4.0	0.4	0	±0	0
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	263,731	2.6	0.9	0	±0	0
	The Republicans (REP)	229,464	2.2	1.4	0	±0	0
	Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP)	200,103	2.0	0.2	0	±0	0
	Bavaria Party (BP)	77,390	0.8	0.0	0	±0	0
	Others	43,562	0.4		0	±0	0
Total		10,248,735	100.0		180	24
Voter turnout			57.1	12.7

Popular Vote CSU   60.67% SPD   19.63% B'90/GRÜNE   7.74% FW   4.01% FDP   2.57% Other   5.38%

Landtag seats CSU   68.89% SPD   22.78% B'90/GRÜNE   8.33%

Notes

1. 2.2% REP, 2.0% ÖDP, 1.2% Other
2. 1.0% PDS, 0.5% REP, 0.5% ÖDP, 4.0% Other
3. 2% Right-wing parties, 6% Other
4. 2% Right-wing parties, 5% Other
5. 3.0% PRO, 1.0% REP, 1.0% PDS, 0.5% ÖDP, 2.0% Other
6. 2% Right-wing parties, 5% Other
7. 2% Right-wing parties, 5% Other
8. 2% Right-wing parties, 5% Other
9. 3% Right-wing parties, 6% Other
10. 3% Right-wing parties, 6% Other
11. 3.6% REP, 1.8% ÖDP, 1.9% Other

Sources

• Results of 2003 Bavaria state election