By March 2003 Myhre had resigned as leader and Torstein Dahle was elected as his successor. Dahle had been the leading figure of the Red Electoral Alliance in Hordaland since the 1990s. When commenting on his resignation, Myhre commented on his 2001 election in Oslo saying "it is sad to resign after a bad election". During the 2003 local elections three different polls showed that the Red Electoral Alliance was close to earning three seats on the Oslo City Council. Folkvord stated that if the party managed to earn one extra seat, he would use try removing the right-wing Conservative Party from power and replace them with a more left-wing "leaning choice" — such as the Labour Party or the Socialist Left Party. The party increased its vote by 0.1%, earning the party 3.1% of the popular vote in Oslo. The party was not able to win a third seat, retaining the two they held.