Ludwigshafen/Frankenthal

Ludwigshafen/Frankenthal is an electoral constituency (German: Wahlkreis) represented in the Bundestag. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 206. It is located in southeastern Rhineland-Palatinate, comprising the cities of Ludwigshafen and Frankenthal and the northern part of the Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis district.^[1]

206 Ludwigshafen/Frankenthal
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Ludwigshafen/Frankenthal in 2025
State	Rhineland-Palatinate
Population	324,200 (2019)
Electorate	205,998 (2025)
Major settlements	Ludwigshafen Frankenthal Mutterstadt
Area	314.7 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Member	Vacant
Elected	2025

Ludwigshafen/Frankenthal was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Whilst the Christian Democratic Union won the plurality in the 2025 election, under the new voting system, their candidate did not actually win a seat in the Bundestag. This was due to the distribution of seats won by the CDU being decided by the first (direct) vote percentage of each winning CDU candidate, determining who took the seats. As the CDU candidate got a low vote of 27.1%, the seat will remain vacant throughout the 21st Bundestag.^[2]

Geography

Ludwigshafen/Frankenthal is located in southeastern Rhineland-Palatinate. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the independent cities of Ludwigshafen and Frankenthal and the municipalities of Bobenheim-Roxheim, Böhl-Iggelheim, Limburgerhof, Mutterstadt, Altrip, and Neuhofen and the Verbandsgemeinden of Dannstadt-Schauernheim, Lambsheim-Heßheim, and Maxdorf from the Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis district.^[1]

History

Ludwigshafen/Frankenthal was created in 1949, then known as Ludwigshafen am Rhein. From 1965 through 1998, it was named Ludwigshafen. It acquired its current name in the 2002 election. In the 1949 election, it was Rhineland-Palatinate constituency 11 in the numbering system. In the 1953 through 1961 elections, it was number 158. In the 1965 through 1976 elections, it was number 159. In the 1980 through 1998 elections, it was number 157. In the 2002 election, it was number 210. In the 2005 election, it was number 209. In the 2009 and 2013 elections, it was number 208. In the 2017 and 2021 elections, it was number 207. From the 2025 election, it has been number 206.

Originally, the constituency comprised the cities of Ludwigshafen and Frankenthal, the district of Landkreis Ludwigshafen, and the district of Landkreis Frankenthal excluding the Amtsgerichtsbezirk of Grünstadt. In the 1965 and 1969 elections, it comprised the city of Ludwigshafen and the Landkreis Ludwigshafen district. In the 1972 through 1998 elections, it comprised the city of Ludwigshafen and the municipalities of Altrip, Böhl-Iggelheim, Limburgerhof, Mutterstadt, and Neuhofen and Verbandsgemeinde of Dannstadt-Schauernheim from the Landkreis Ludwigshafen district. It acquired its current borders in the 2002 election.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	11	Ludwigshafen am Rhein	Ludwigshafen city Frankenthal city Landkreis Ludwigshafen district Landkreis Frankenthal district (excluding Grünstadt Amtsgerichtsbezirk)
1953	158
1957
1961
1965	159	Ludwigshafen	Ludwigshafen city Landkreis Ludwigshafen district
1969
1972			Ludwigshafen city Landkreis Ludwigshafen district (only Altrip, Böhl-Iggelheim, Limburgerhof, Mutterstadt, and Neuhofen municipalities and Dannstadt-Schauernheim Verbandsgemeinde)
1976
1980	157
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	210	Ludwigshafen/Frankenthal	Ludwigshafen city Frankenthal city Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis district (only Bobenheim-Roxheim, Böhl-Iggelheim, Limburgerhof, and Mutterstadt municipalities and Dannstadt-Schauernheim, Lambsheim-Heßheim, Maxdorf, and Rheinauen (only Altrip and Neuhofen municipalities) Verbandsgemeinden)
2005	209
2009	208
2013
2017	207
2021
2025	206

Members

The constituency was first represented by Friedrich Wilhelm Wagner of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 1949 to 1965. Hans Bardens of the SPD served from 1965 to 1983. Manfred Reimann of the SPD was then representative from 1983 to 1990. The constituency was won by then-Chancellor of Germany Helmut Kohl of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in 1990. He was re-elected in 1994. Doris Barnett of the SPD was elected in 1998 and served until 2009. Maria Böhmer won it for the CDU in 2009 and served two terms. Torbjörn Kartes of the CDU was elected in 2017. Christian Schreider was elected for the SPD in 2021. The seat became vacant as a result of the 2025 election.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	Friedrich Wilhelm Wagner	SPD	43.1
	1953			43.3
	1957			45.2
	1961			47.0
	1965	Hans Bardens	SPD	51.1
	1969			54.9
	1972			58.9
	1976			53.1
	1980			54.1
	1983	Manfred Reimann	SPD	47.7
	1987			46.0
	1990	Helmut Kohl	CDU	44.7
	1994			46.0
	1998	Doris Barnett	SPD	47.9
	2002			47.3
	2005			43.4
	2009	Maria Böhmer	CDU	38.4
	2013			43.3
	2017	Torbjörn Kartes	CDU	32.2
	2021	Christian Schreider	SPD	32.8
	2025	Vacant[a]

Election results

2025 election

Under the new voting system implemented for the 2025 election, although the CSU candidate won the most votes in this constituency, due to the low winning percentage, the constituency seat will remain vacant as not enough second (party) votes were won to be allocated this seat.

Federal election (2025): Ludwigshafen/Frankenthal[3]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	CDU	Sertac Bilgin[a]		43,626	27.1	2.1	44,478	27.5	5.5
	AfD	Stefan Scheil		37,119	23.1	11.4	37,872	23.4	11.6
	SPD	N Christian Schreider		42,212	26.2	6.6	31,416	19.4	10.5
	Greens	Armin Grau		12,367	7.7	3.5	14,377	8.9	2.9
	Left	Jonas Leibig		7,794	4.8	1.8	11,028	6.8	3.8
	BSW	Jan Mohammad		5,432	3.4	New	7,876	4.9	New
	FDP	Eric von Nagel		5,736	3.6	5.4	7,095	4.4	7.6
	FW	Hans Arndt		4,618	2.9	2.0	2,871	1.8	1.3
	Tierschutzpartei						2,194	1.4	0.5
	Volt	Burak Bağiş		1,481	0.9	New	1,028	0.6	0.1
	PARTEI						790	0.5	0.4
	BD	Timo Weber		640	0.4	New	412	0.3	New
	ÖDP						180	0.1	0.0
	MLPD						45	<0.1	0.0
Informal votes				2,081			1,444
Total valid votes				161,025			161,662
Turnout				163,106	79.2	5.8
	Vacant gain from SPD		Majority

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Ludwigshafen/Frankenthal[4]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	SPD	Christian Schreider		50,108	32.8	0.9	45,895	29.9	5.0
	CDU	N Torbjörn Kartes		38,193	25.0	7.1	33,726	22.0	8.9
	AfD	Stefan Scheil		17,740	11.6	2.9	18,075	11.8	3.7
	Greens	Armin Grau		17,061	11.2	5.7	18,128	11.8	4.5
	FDP	Michael Goldschmidt		13,688	9.0	1.5	18,421	12.0	1.8
	FW	Hans Arndt		7,411	4.9	2.2	4,789	3.1	1.6
	Left	Liborio Ciccarello		4,648	3.0	2.6	4,651	3.0	3.6
	Tierschutzpartei						2,771	1.8
	dieBasis	Alexander Kiesow		1,947	1.3		1,689	1.1
	PARTEI						1,308	0.9	0.3
	Team Todenhöfer						1,275	0.8
	Volt						747	0.5
	Pirates						658	0.4	0.2
	Independent	Martin Schöne		626	0.4
	Independent	Reiner Bechtel		586	0.4
	Independent	Bernd Hackel		431	0.3
	NPD						253	0.2	0.3
	ÖDP						226	0.1	0.1
	Humanists						160	0.1
	V-Partei3						164	0.1	0.2
	DiB						152	0.1
	LKR	Markus Böhm		193	0.1		102	0.1
	MLPD	Lieselotte Seiberth		157	0.1	0.2	68	0.0	0.1
Informal votes				2,122			1,653
Total valid votes				152,789			153,258
Turnout				154,911	73.4	1.7
	SPD gain from CDU		Majority	11,915	7.8

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Ludwigshafen/Frankenthal[5]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	CDU	Torbjörn Kartes		51,168	32.1	11.2	49,226	30.9	8.1
	SPD	Doris Barnett		50,740	31.9	3.7	39,822	25.0	4.6
	AfD	Marcus Künster		23,109	14.5		24,641	15.5	9.4
	FDP	Thomas Schell		11,910	7.5	5.0	16,321	10.2	5.0
	Left	Gerald Unger		8,979	5.6	0.7	10,614	6.7	1.1
	Greens	Dirk Dreher		8,700	5.5	0.7	11,621	7.3	0.0
	FW	Hans Arndt		4,163	2.6	0.0	2,418	1.5	0.1
	PARTEI						1,796	1.1
	Pirates						978	0.6	1.9
	NPD						667	0.4	1.0
	V-Partei³						457	0.3
	BGE						384	0.2
	ÖDP						322	0.2	0.0
	MLPD	Madeleine Stockert		412	0.3	0.1	190	0.1	0.0
Informal votes				2,686			2,410
Total valid votes				159,181			159,457
Turnout				161,867	75.1	3.7
	CDU hold		Majority	428	0.2	7.5

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Ludwigshafen/Frankenthal[6]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	CDU	Y Maria Böhmer		65,746	43.3	4.9	59,425	39.0	6.6
	SPD	Doris Barnett		54,003	35.6	3.2	45,001	29.5	2.8
	Left	Gerald Unger		7,476	4.9	3.7	8,538	5.6	4.7
	Greens	Romeo Franz		7,247	4.8	1.4	11,042	7.2	1.3
	AfD						9,224	6.1
	Pirates	Roman Schmitt		4,179	2.8	0.6	3,878	2.5	0.5
	FW	Hans Arndt		3,939	2.6		2,162	1.4
	FDP	Thomas Schell		3,773	2.5	6.1	7,952	5.2	9.6
	NPD	Heinz Neumann		2,666	1.8	0.6	2,177	1.4	0.2
	REP	Marco Steigert		2,452	1.6	0.8	1,801	1.2	1.2
	Party of Reason						441	0.3
	PRO						348	0.2
	ÖDP						283	0.2	0.0
	MLPD	Madeleine Stockert		281	0.2	0.0	148	0.1	0.0
Informal votes				3,243			2,585
Total valid votes				151,762			152,420
Turnout				155,005	71.4	0.8
	CDU hold		Majority	11,743	7.7	1.8

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Ludwigshafen/Frankenthal[7]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	CDU	Maria Böhmer		57,736	38.4	1.3	48,785	32.4	1.4
	SPD	N Doris Barnett		48,713	32.4	10.9	40,325	26.8	10.6
	Left	Kathrin Senger-Schäfer		13,002	8.6	4.1	15,457	10.3	4.5
	FDP	Ralf Marohn		12,878	8.6	4.1	22,392	14.9	4.4
	Greens	Bernhard Braun		9,277	6.2	2.6	12,919	8.6	1.6
	REP	Marco Steigert		3,631	2.4	0.4	3,601	2.4	0.4
	Pirates	Philipp Scherer		3,188	2.1		3,079	2.0
	NPD	Ronald Neumann		1,807	1.2	0.3	1,798	1.2	0.3
	FAMILIE						1,443	1.0	0.1
	ÖDP						319	0.2
	PBC						314	0.2	0.1
	DVU						158	0.1
	MLPD	Madeleine Stockert		210	0.1	0.1	121	0.1	0.1
Informal votes				3,013			2,744
Total valid votes				150,442			150,711
Turnout				153,455	70.6	8.0
	CDU gain from SPD		Majority	9,023	6.0

Notes

1. Sertac Bilgin (CDU) won with 27.1% but seat remained vacant due to insufficient second votes cover.