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%.

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
bgcolor=Template:Party color |	CSU	Christian Social Union in Bavaria Template:Small	Christian democracy	Edmund Stoiber	52.9%	Template:Composition bar
bgcolor=Template:Party color |	SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany Template:Small	Social democracy	Franz Maget	28.7%	Template:Composition bar
bgcolor=Template:Party color |	Grüne	Alliance 90/The Greens Template:Small	Green politics	Sepp Daxenberger	5.7%	Template:Composition bar

Opinion polling

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

Sources

• Results of 2003 Bavaria state election