South West England Assembly election, 2003 (The Empire Survives)

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South West England Assembly election, 2003
All 45 seats in the National Assembly for South West England 23 seats needed for a majority
6 May 2003
Turnout		65.07%
		First party	Second party	Third party
Leader		Sebastian Coe	Steve Gilbert	Alison Seabeck
Party		Conservative	Liberal Democrats	Labour
Leader's seat		Cornwall (list) Candidate for Falmouth and Camborne (won)	Truro and St Austell	Plymouth Devonport
Last election		21 seats, 35.5%	18 seats, 31.2%	6 seats, 28.4%
Seats before		22	18	5
Seats won		23	18	4
Seat change		▲ 2	▬ 0	▼ 2
Popular vote		641,128	603,935	233,952
Percentage		40.96%	38.57%	14.94%
Swing		▲ 5.46%	▲ 7.37%	▼ 13.46%
[[Image: |250px]]
Colours show the winning party and the majority in each constituency.
First Minister before election Steve Gilbert Liberal Democrats Elected First Minister Sebastian Coe Conservatives

The 2003 South West England Assembly election was held on Thursday, 1 May 2003 to elect 45 members to the South West England Assembly. The Conservatives won the most seats and votes giving them a majority. Thus, the Liberal Democrats' coalition with Labour ended.

Background

The first term and its government were known for there instabilty. Both the First Minister and his Deputy stood down in mid-May 2001. The Labour leader and Deputy First Minister, Jim Knight, stood down after he was elected as the MP for Dorset South resulting in a by-election in the Assembly counterpart of Dorset South. It was won by the Conservatives. After this, the government and the opposition held the same number of seats. This led to several unsuccessful votes of no confidence. Shortly before the election, Tony Blair announced he would join America in invading Iraq. Polling after started to show that Labour were on track for a bad result.

Elections

↓
23	3	18	1
Conservatives	Labour	Lib Dems	P.O.