Between 6 and November 12, 2002 the 60,000 members of the Dutch

Politics of the Netherlands

The politics of the Netherlands take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democracy, a constitutional monarchy and a decentralised unitary state. The Netherlands is described as a consociational state...

 social-democratic

Social democracy

Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...

 Labour Party (PvdA) could vote for their preferred candidate for top candidate

Lijsttrekker

Lijsttrekker is a Dutch term for the top candidate of a party on a party list. He or she is almost always the party's political leader. After an election, this person usually leads the party's faction in the States-General, or serves in a senior position in the Cabinet if his party is part of...

 for the 2003 general election

Dutch general election, 2003

The General Election to the House of Representatives of the States-General of the Netherlands was held in the Netherlands on January 22, 2003.-Background:...

.

These elections were part of the reforms implemented by party chairperson Ruud Koole, after the 2002 elections

Dutch general election, 2003

The General Election to the House of Representatives of the States-General of the Netherlands was held in the Netherlands on January 22, 2003.-Background:...

. In addition to the top candidate for the elections to the House of Representatives, the top candidate for the Senate and leaders of the provincial councils were elected. All PvdA members could vote by mail or telephone.

The candidates for the election were Wouter Bos

Wouter Bos

Wouter Jacob Bos is a Dutch management consultant and former politician of the Labour Party . He was Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister in the Cabinet Balkenende IV from February 22, 2007 till February 23, 2010...

, former State Secretary for finance, the former President of the House of Representatives, Jeltsje van Nieuwenhoven, the former Minister of Home Affairs, Klaas de Vries

Klaas de Vries (politician)

Klaas George de Vries is a member of the Dutch House of Representatives for the PvdA. De Vries has had a long political career: he has been a member of parliament for more than 15 years, he has been a minister, and was involved in forming both Kok cabinets.-Career before politics:After attending a...

 and the Professor of public administration

Public administration

Public Administration houses the implementation of government policy and an academic discipline that studies this implementation and that prepares civil servants for this work. As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" its "fundamental goal.....

 Jouke de Vries

Jouke de Vries

Jouke de Vries is a professor at Leiden University in Leiden.De Vries grew up in the village of Balk in Friesland and in 1979 started his studies in political science at the University of Amsterdam. He has been working at the group Leaderships Art at the University of Leiden since 1984. De Vries...

. The first three were member of the House of Representatives, while Jouke de Vries was an outsider candidate.

Wouter Bos was the first to announce his candidacy, just after the fall of the Second Balkenende cabinet

Second Balkenende cabinet

The second cabinet of Jan Peter Balkenende of the Netherlands formed on 27 May 2003. It consisted of three political parties: People's Party for Freedom and Democracy , Christian Democratic Appeal , and Democrats 66 , which is the smallest of the three.On 29 June 2006, D66 dropped its support for...

. On September 29, 2002, Klaas de Vries announced his candidacy, claiming that the elections would be a sham if only Wouter Bos was a serious candidate. On October 22, interim party-leader Jeltsje van Nieuwenhoven announced finally her candidacy.

The elections were won by a landslide by Wouter Bos. He won by with 60% of the votes and a margin of 30%. 54% of the PvdA members voted.

Following the elections the PvdA made miraculous resurgence in the 2003 general elections, nearly doubling its seats and votes, this is partially credited to the charisma of Wouter Bos and the reform of the party under Ruud Koole

Candidate	Votes	%
Wouter Bos Wouter Bos Wouter Jacob Bos is a Dutch management consultant and former politician of the Labour Party . He was Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister in the Cabinet Balkenende IV from February 22, 2007 till February 23, 2010...	19,303	60,56%
Jeltsje van Nieuwenhoven	10129	31,78%
Klaas de Vries Klaas de Vries (politician) Klaas George de Vries is a member of the Dutch House of Representatives for the PvdA. De Vries has had a long political career: he has been a member of parliament for more than 15 years, he has been a minister, and was involved in forming both Kok cabinets.-Career before politics:After attending a...	1508	4,73%
Jouke de Vries Jouke de Vries Jouke de Vries is a professor at Leiden University in Leiden.De Vries grew up in the village of Balk in Friesland and in 1979 started his studies in political science at the University of Amsterdam. He has been working at the group Leaderships Art at the University of Leiden since 1984. De Vries...	935	2,93%
Total	31,875	100.0