2003 Swiss federal election

2003 Swiss federal election

← 1999 19 October 2003 2007 →
Turnout	45.23% 1.93pp
National Council
All 200 seats in the National Council 101 seats needed for a majority
Party Leader % 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.^[1] 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.