2003 in politics

Events (Elections, laws passed, cabinet reshuffles, etc)

January 1

• Brazil: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva takes office as president and José Alencar[?] as vice president.
• Switzerland: Pascal Couchepin takes office as president and Ruth Metzler[?] as vice president.
• Malaysia: Datuk Ahmadshah Abdullah[?] is made head of state of Sabah.
• United States: Bill Richardson[?] takes office as Governor of New Mexico and Jennifer Granholm[?] as Governor of Michigan.

January 2

• United States: Mitt Romney[?] is inaugurated as Governor of Massachusetts.

January 3

• Kenya: Mwai Kibaki announces his cabinet.

January 4

• Burundi: Athanase Gahungu[?] in a cabinet reshuffle replaces Édouard Kadigiri[?] as finance minister.

January 5

• Lithuania: Rolandas Paksas[?] wins 54.9% of the vote against 45.1% for Valdas Adamkus[?]. Paksas takes office on February 26.

January 6

• Guam: Felix Camacho[?] takes office as governor.
• United States: Dave Freudenthal[?] takes office as Governor of Wyoming, Janet Napolitano as Governor of Arizona, Jim Doyle[?] as Governor of Wisconsin and Tim Pawlenty as Governor of Minnesota.

January 7

• United States: Don Carcieri[?] takes office as Governor of Rhode Island and Mike Rounds[?] as Governor of South Dakota.

January 8

• India: Sudarshan Agarwal[?] is takes office as Governor of Uttaranchal[?].
• United States: Jim Douglas[?] takes office as Governor of Vermont and John Baldacci[?] as Governor of Maine.
• Yugoslavia: A new Montenegrin[?] government is approved; Milo Djukanovic[?] becomes prime minister.

January 9

• United States: Craig Benson[?] takes office as Governor of New Hampshire.

January 10

• Djibouti: The Union for a Presidential Majority[?] wins 62.2% of the vote against 36.9% for the Union for a Democratic Alternative[?].

January 11

January 12

January 13

• United States: Brad Henry[?] takes office as Governor of Oklahoma, Kathleen Sebelius[?] as Governor of Kansas, Rod Blagojevich[?] as Governor of Illinois, Sonny Perdue[?] takes office as Governor of Georgia, Ted Kulongoski as Governor of Oregon.

January 14

January 15

• Ecuador: Lucio Gutiérrez takes office as president and Alfredo Palacio[?] becomes vice president.
• United States: Mark Sanford[?] takes office as Governor of South Carolina and Robert L. Ehrlich[?] as Governor of Maryland.

January 16

• Laos: Chansy Phosikham [?] in a cabinet reshuffle replaces Soukan Mahalat [?] as finance minister

January 17

• Greenland: Hans Enoksen of the Siumut party[?] forms a new government with the Atassut party[?].

January 18

• Kuwait: Finance Minister Youssef al-Ibrahim resigns.
• United States: Phil Bredesen[?] takes office as Governor of Tennessee.

January 19

• Cuba: Parliamentary elections lead to 609 candidates are elected unopposed.

January 20

• United States: Bob Riley[?] takes office as Governor of Alabama.

January 21

• United States: Ed Rendell takes office as Governor of Pennsylvania.

January 22

January 23

January 24

January 25

• Côte d'Ivoire: Laurent Gbagbo makes Seydou Diarra[?] as prime minister.

January 26

January 27

January 28

January 29

January 30

January 31

February 1

• Switzerland: Christoph Eymann[?] becomes president of the government of Basel-Stadt.

February 2

February 3

• United States: John Snow is made treasury secretary.
• Estonia: Ain Seppik[?] resigns. Toomas Varek[?] becomes the new interior minister.

February 4

• Yugoslavia: Renamed to Serbia and Montenegro by the govenment with a new constitution converting the federal republic to a "loose union".

February 5

February 6

February 7

February 8

February 9

• Serbia and Montenegro: In Presidential elections in Montenegro, it fails again as turnout was only 47.7%. Filip Vujanovic[?] wins 81.5% of the votes, Dragan Hajdukovic[?] 7.1%, and Aleksandar Vasilijevic[?] 3.9%.

February 10

• Côte d'Ivoire: Seydou Diarra[?] is made prime minister.

March 16

• Finland: Elections for the parliament are held. See Politics of Finland for results.

Deaths

January 5

• Roy Jenkins, former president of the European Commission (1977-1981).

January 10

• C. Douglas Dillon, former treasury secretary of the United States (1961-1965).

January 12

• Leopoldo Galtieri, former president of Argentina (1981-1982).

January 27

• Henryk Jablonski[?], former chairman of the Council of State of Poland (1972-1985)

February 1

• Richard Lyng[?], former secretary of agriculture of the United States (1986-1989).