General elections were held in the Netherlands on 22 January 2003.^[1]

This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (October 2020)

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2003 Dutch general election

← 2002 22 January 2003 2006 →
All 150 seats in the House of Representatives 76 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	80.0% ( 0.6 pp)
Party Leader % Seats +/– CDA Jan Peter Balkenende 28.6% 44 +1 PvdA Wouter Bos 27.2% 42 +19 VVD Gerrit Zalm 17.9% 28 +4 SP Jan Marijnissen 6.3% 9 0 LPF Mat Herben 5.6% 8 −18 GL Femke Halsema 5.1% 8 −2 D66 Thom de Graaf 4.0% 6 −1 CU André Rouvoet 2.1% 3 −1 SGP Bas van der Vlies 1.5% 2 0 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Most voted-for party by municipality Cabinet before Cabinet after First Balkenende cabinet CDA–LPF–VVD Second Balkenende cabinet CDA–VVD–D66

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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.

The LPF lost as spectacularly as it won in 2002, with its seat count dropping from 26 to 8. Commentators attributed the result to voters feeling that the LPF had become rudderless without its original leader and that the government had already implemented some of its policies, but argued disaffected LPF supporters would still back an "anti-establishment" party if a viable option was available.

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.

By province

More information Province, CDA ...

Results by province^[2]

Province	CDA	PvdA	VVD	SP	LPF	GL	D66	CU	SGP	Others
Drenthe	24.8	37.8	16.8	5.1	3.8	4.1	3.4	2.9	0.3	1.0
Flevoland	24.7	25.5	21.3	5.4	7.0	4.8	4.1	3.6	2.1	1.5
Friesland	32.0	33.5	12.6	6.0	3.7	4.5	2.8	3.2	0.5	1.2
Gelderland	31.6	26.6	16.5	5.8	4.2	5.1	3.6	2.5	2.9	1.2
Groningen	20.6	39.6	13.0	7.3	3.4	6.0	3.9	4.7	0.3	1.2
Limburg	37.5	26.6	14.1	7.2	5.3	4.5	2.9	0.3	0.0	1.6
North Brabant	33.9	23.6	18.2	8.4	5.6	4.2	3.6	0.6	0.4	1.5
North Holland	21.1	29.0	21.5	7.0	6.0	6.9	5.7	1.0	0.2	1.6
Overijssel	36.6	27.3	13.5	4.9	3.4	4.2	3.0	4.4	2.1	1.6
South Holland	24.9	25.9	19.8	5.3	8.7	4.7	4.3	2.2	2.5	1.7
Utrecht	27.3	23.5	20.4	5.9	4.8	6.7	5.2	3.1	2.0	1.1
Zeeland	32.0	23.8	15.7	5.0	5.3	3.8	2.7	2.9	7.7	1.1

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• Van Holsteyn, Joop J. M.; Galen A. Irwin (January 2004). "The Dutch parliamentary elections of 2003". West European Politics. 27 (1): 157–164. doi:10.1080/01402380412331280853.