State election in Hesse 2003
The elections for the 16th Hessian state parliament took place on February 2, 2003. The election result was significantly influenced by federal politics. As a result, the CDU achieved its best Hessian state election result of all time and for the only time so far achieved an absolute majority of the parliamentary seats. The SPD, on the other hand, achieved its worst result, which it had until then in state elections in this state.
initial situation
In the previous state election in 1999 , the CDU achieved surprisingly high profits and, together with the FDP, a majority of seats. The only slight gains by the SPD were offset by gains of 4.2% from the CDU. This resulted in the formation of a government from a CDU / FDP coalition. Roland Koch (CDU) became the new Prime Minister .
| Political party | Voting share | Seats |
|---|---|---|
| CDU | 43.4% | 50 |
| SPD | 39.4% | 46 |
| GREEN | 7.2% | 8th |
| FDP | 5.1% | 6th |
The opinion polls before the election predicted confirmation from the CDU-FDP coalition. Losses for the SPD and slight gains for the CDU were forecast, although the CDU would probably remain dependent on the FDP as a coalition partner.
| Political party | Forsa (January 31) | Infratest dimap (January 20th) | Forsa (January 18) | Research Group Elections (January 16) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CDU | 49% | 48% | 50% | 48% |
| SPD | 29% | 31% | 31% | 32% |
| GREEN | 11% | 11 & | 10% | 10% |
| FDP | 8th % | 7% | 5% | 7% |
Top candidates
The CDU ran with Prime Minister Koch as the top candidate. The opponent of the SPD was Gerhard Bökel .
The Greens traditionally go into the election campaign with a dual leadership. Evelin Schönhut-Keil and Tarek Al-Wazir topped the Green List. Minister Ruth Wagner was the top candidate for the FDP .
Accompanying parties
The following parties were available nationwide:
- CDU - Christian Democratic Union of Germany
- SPD - Social Democratic Party of Germany
- GREENS - ALLIANCE 90 / THE GREENS
- FDP - Free Democratic Party
- REP - THE REPUBLICANS
- The Animal Welfare Party - Human Environment Animal Welfare
- THE WOMEN - Feminist Party THE WOMEN
- PBC - Party of Faithful Christians
- DKP - German Communist Party
- ödp - Ecological Democratic Party
- BüSo - Civil Rights Movement Solidarity
- FAG Hessen - FAG airport expansion opponent Hessen
- PSG - Party for Social Equality, Section of the Fourth International
- Schill - Rule of Law Offensive Party
In some circles, there were also:
- Unemployed
- Pescheck
- Schülbe, Hans-Jürgen
- SAV - Socialist Alternative
- UFFBASSE - Independent Free Citizen Group - Upright, Spontaneous, Subcultural, Stubborn
- W. Ruppert -direct- - Wolf-Reiner Ruppert
Election campaign
The election campaign was shaped by the following topics: The CDU placed school policy and security policy at the center of its campaigns. In order to implement the guarantee of lessons promised in the previous election campaign , the government created 3,000 new teaching positions. The police and the judiciary were also significantly strengthened. The massive reduction in the number of escaped prisoners was also highlighted. The high number of outbreaks during the Red-Green reign had been an issue in the previous election campaign. The SPD followed up on the CDU donation affair , in the course of which Koch initially promised "the most brutal possible clarification", but at a press conference on January 10, 2000, despite repeated inquiries, kept the backdate of a loan agreement secret. Therefore, the SPD accused Koch of lying. In the final phase of the election campaign, the SPD brought up the issue of the Iraq war (which had contributed to Gerhard Schröder's election victory ) again.
The election campaign was again overshadowed by federal political influences (see: election analysis).
Official end result
| Constituency votes |
National voices |
Seats | Direct mandates |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| number | in % | number | in % | |||
| Eligible voters | 4,330,792 | 100.0 | 4,330,792 | 100.0 | ||
| Voters | 2,798,534 | 64.6 | 2,798,534 | 64.6 | ||
| Invalid votes | 82,845 | 3.0 | 63,542 | 2.3 | ||
| Valid votes | 2,715,689 | 100.0 | 2,734,992 | 100.0 | 110 | 55 |
| from that | ||||||
| CDU | 1,411,800 | 52.0 | 1,333,863 | 48.8 | 56 | 53 |
| SPD | 898.813 | 33.1 | 795.576 | 29.1 | 33 | 2 |
| GREEN | 230.261 | 8.5 | 276.276 | 10.1 | 12 | 0 |
| FDP | 148,632 | 5.5 | 216.110 | 7.9 | 9 | 0 |
| REP | 7,025 | 0.3 | 34,563 | 1.3 | 0 | 0 |
| The animal welfare party | 4,815 | 0.2 | 20,600 | 0.8 | 0 | 0 |
| FAG Hessen | - | - | 17,736 | 0.6 | 0 | - |
| Schill | 3,074 | 0.1 | 14,545 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 |
| THE WOMEN | 1,090 | 0.0 | 7.506 | 0.3 | 0 | 0 |
| PBC | 1,465 | 0.1 | 6,674 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 |
| DKP | 2,552 | 0.1 | 5,908 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 |
| ödp | 378 | 0.0 | 2,683 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 |
| BüSo | 873 | 0.0 | 1,643 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 |
| PSG | - | - | 1,309 | 0.0 | 0 | - |
| SAV | 356 | 0.0 | - | - | 0 | 0 |
| Individual applicants | 4,555 | 0.2 | - | - | 0 | 0 |
The state government had existed since the election of a CDU -Alleinregierung led by Prime Minister Roland Koch .
Election analysis
The results of the elections were an unprecedented disaster for the SPD. With a 10.3% loss (with a 5.4% gain for the Union), the SPD was the clear loser in the election. The fact that the losses in the simultaneous election in Lower Saxony were even more severe, at 14.5%, was generally seen as a sign that federal politics had decided the elections. The research group Wahlen determined that there had never been such a high shift between the mainstream parties . 44% of those questioned stated that federal political reasons were decisive for them in their election. The politics of the red-green federal government was rated −1 on a scale from +5 to −5.
But state politics also contributed to the election result. While the CDU / FDP government in Hesse was rated +1.0, the SPD opposition was rated −0.1.
Consequences
Hesse
Although the CDU won a narrow majority of the seats in the state parliament, Roland Koch offered the FDP a continuation of the previous coalition. Since the FDP refused this offer, a sole government of the CDU was formed ( Koch II cabinet ). Roland Koch was re-elected Prime Minister on April 5, 2003.
Nevertheless, the new government continued to try to involve the FDP in its practical work. So who was district president of the administrative district of Darmstadt , Gerold Dieke (FDP), left in the office and also in the planning Ballungsraum Frankfurt / Rhine-Main agreed to a Christian-liberal coalition.
Beyond Hessen
The election result was generally interpreted as a lesson for the Federal Schröder government. According to surveys by Infratest , 62% of those surveyed were of the opinion that the federal government deserved a lesson for breaking election promises.
As a direct result of the election results in Hesse and Lower Saxony, Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder decided in his government statement of March 14, 2003 to announce his labor market reforms under the title Agenda 2010 .
See also
literature
- Research Group Elections : Election in Hessen. An analysis of the state elections of February 02, 2003 , Mannheim 2003.
Web links
- final result of the state elections on February 2, 2003 (PDF; StAnz. 8/2003, pp. 802–831)
swell
- ↑ State elections in Hesse 1946 - 2009 Hessian State Statistical Office
- ^ Election polls in Hessen
- ^ Final result of the state elections on February 2, 2003 (StAnz. 8/2003 pp. 802–831).
- ↑ Brief analysis of the Wahlen research group ( memento of the original from August 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Election analysis Infratest ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
