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2003 Swiss federal election

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Turnout	45.23% 1.93pp
National Council
All 200 seats in the National Council 101 seats needed for a majority
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/– Swiss People's Ueli Maurer 26.68 55 +11 Social Democrats Christiane Brunner 23.33 52 +1 Free Democrats Christiane Langenberger 17.34 36 −7 Christian Democrats Philipp Stähelin 14.35 28 −7 Greens Ruth Genner 7.43 13 +5 Evangelical People's Ruedi Aeschbacher 2.28 3 0 Liberals Claude Ruey 2.18 4 −2 Federal Democrats Hans Moser 1.26 2 +1 Swiss Democrats Rudolf Keller 0.96 1 0 Labour 0.69 2 0 Feminist & Greens 0.53 1 0 solidaritéS 0.50 1 0 Christian Social 0.36 1 0 Ticino League Giuliano Bignasca 0.35 1 −1 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Council of States
All 46 seats in the Council of States 24 seats needed for a majority
Party Seats +/– Christian Democrats 15 0 Free Democrats 14 −3 Social Democrats 9 +3 Swiss People's 8 +1 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Results by canton

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Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 19 October 2003. Although in Switzerland's political system, in which all four major parties form a coalition, it is very difficult to achieve a change of government, this election produced an upset with the strong showing of the right-wing, anti-European Union and anti-immigration Swiss People's Party. The left-wing parties, the Social Democrats and the Greens, also improved their positions. The losers were the parties of the centre and centre-right, the Christian Democratic People's Party and the Free Democratic Party.

In the aftermath of the elections Ruth Metzler-Arnold, one of the two Christian Democrats in the Federal Council was replaced by Christoph Blocher, the most influential politician in the Swiss People's Party.

Electoral system

Switzerland has a bicameral legislature, the Federal Assembly (Assemblée Fédérale / Bundesversammlung / Asamblea Federale / Assemblea Federala).

• The National Council (Conseil National / Nationalrat / Consiglio Nazionale / Cussegl Naziunal) has 200 members, elected for four-year terms by proportional representation in multi-member constituencies corresponding to the 26 Swiss cantons and half-cantons.
• The Council of States (Conseil des Etats / Ständerat / Consiglio degli Stati / Cussegl dals Stadis) has 46 members elected for four-year terms from multi-member and single-member constituencies.

These elections were to the National Council and for most of the members of the Council of States.

All parties in Switzerland have different names in French, German and Italian, and conduct separate campaigns in the different language areas.

Results

National Council

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Swiss People's Party	560,750	26.68	55	+11
	Social Democratic Party	490,385	23.33	52	+1
	Free Democratic Party	364,493	17.34	36	–7
	Christian Democratic People's Party	301,652	14.35	28	–7
	Green Party	156,226	7.43	13	+5
	Evangelical People's Party	47,838	2.28	3	0
	Liberal Party	45,864	2.18	4	–2
	Federal Democratic Union	26,590	1.26	2	+1
	Swiss Democrats	20,177	0.96	1	0
	Swiss Party of Labour	14,595	0.69	2	0
	Feminist and Green Alternative Groups	11,153	0.53	1	0
	Solidarity	10,562	0.50	1	0
	Christian Social Party	7,539	0.36	1	0
	Ticino League	7,304	0.35	1	–1
	Freedom Party	4,000	0.19	0	0
	Other parties	32,913	1.57	0	–
Total		2,102,041	100.00	200	0
Valid votes		2,102,041	97.23
Invalid/blank votes		59,880	2.77
Total votes		2,161,921	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		4,779,733	45.23
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

By constituency

Council of the States

Party		Seats	+/–
	Christian Democratic People's Party	15	0
	Free Democratic Party	14	–3
	Social Democratic Party	9	+3
	Swiss People's Party	8	+1
Total		46	0
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

See also

• 2003 Swiss Federal Council election

References

1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1895 ISBN 9783832956097

Bibliography

• Church, Clive H. (May 2004). "The Swiss Elections of October 2003: Two Steps to System Change?". West European Politics. 27 (3): 518–534. doi:10.1080/0140238042000228121.

External links

• Official voting results (in German)

v t e Elections and referendums in Switzerland
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Referendums	1798 1802 1848 1866 1872 1874 1875 1876 1877 1879 1880 1882 1884 1885 1887 1889 1890 1891 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1900 1902 1903 1905 1906 1907 1908 1910 1912 1913 1914 1915 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1933 1934 1935 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

• Politics
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• Federal elections in Switzerland
• 2003 elections in Switzerland
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