Wartburgkreis I

Wartburgkreis I is an electoral constituency (German: Wahlkreis) represented in the Landtag of Thuringia. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 5. It covers the southern part of Wartburgkreis and a small area of Schmalkalden-Meiningen.^[1]

Wartburgkreis I was created for the 1994 state election. Since 2024, it has been represented by Uwe Krell of Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Geography

As of the 2019 state election, Wartburgkreis I covers the southern part of Wartburgkreis and a small area of Schmalkalden-Meiningen, specifically the municipalities of Bad Salzungen (excluding Ettenhausen an der Suhl), Buttlar, Dermbach, Empfertshausen, Geisa, Gerstengrund, Krayenberggemeinde, Leimbach, Oechsen, Schleid, Unterbreizbach, Vacha, Weilar, and Wiesenthal (from Wartburgkreis), and Kaltennordheim (excluding Aschenhausen, Kaltensundheim, Kaltenwestheim, Melpers, Mittelsdorf, Oberkatz und Unterweid) from Schmalkalden-Meiningen.^[1]

Members

The constituency was held by the CDU from its creation in 1994 until 2024. Its first representative was Hans-Peter Häfner, who served from 1994 to 1999, followed by Manfred Grob (1999–2019) and Martin Henkel (2019–2024). The AfD gained the seat in 2024.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1994	Hans-Peter Häfner	CDU	42.9
	1999	Manfred Grob	CDU	49.7
	2004			39.9
	2009			35.2
	2014			42.3
	2019	Martin Henkel	CDU	34.4
	2024	Uwe Krell	AfD	38.5

Election results

2024 election

State election (2024): Wartburgkreis I[2]
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	%	±%
	AfD	Uwe Krell		11,962	38.5	14.7	11,428	36.4	12.2
	CDU	N Martin Henkel		11,501	37.0	2.6	8,793	28.0	0.4
	BSW						4,483	14.3
	Left	Anja Müller		3,756	12.1	11.2	3,130	10.0	17.6
	FW	Uwe Mannel		1,605	5.2	2.7	600	1.9
	SPD	Martin Geissler		1,473	4.7	2.2	1,327	4.2	3.2
	Greens						409	1.3	2.1
	Values	Alfred Schmidt		405	1.3		275	0.9
	FDP	Leo Bender		270	0.9	3.3	278	0.9	3.1
	APT						278	0.9
	MLPD	Stefan Klaus Engel		136	0.4		27	0.1	0.3
	BD						127	0.4
	Familie						127	0.4
	Pirates						62	0.2	0.1
	ÖDP						52	0.2	0.1
Informal votes				530			262
Total valid votes				31,108			31,376
Turnout				31,638	72.6	9.5
	AfD gain from CDU		Majority	461	1.5

2019 election

State election (2019): Wartburgkreis I[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	Martin Henkel		9,714	34.4	7.9	8,047	28.4	13.8
	AfD	Stefan Mäurer		6,719	23.8		6,842	24.2	16.3
	Left	Anja Müller		6,585	23.3	3.0	7,810	27.6	3.0
	SPD	Martin Geißler		1,945	6.9	10.1	2,086	7.4	4.9
	Greens	Andreas Hundertmark		1,275	4.5	1.0	965	3.4	0.3
	FDP	Matthias Fallenstein		1,176	4.2	1.1	1,121	4.0	2.3
	Free Voters	Ines Senf		708	2.5
	MLPD	Stefan Engel		115	0.4		104	0.4
	List-only parties						1,328	4.7
Informal votes				404			338
Total valid votes				28,237			28,303
Turnout				28,641	63.1	13.7
	CDU hold		Majority	2,995	10.6	5.4

2014 election

State election (2014): Wartburgkreis I[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	%	±%
	CDU	Y Manfred Grob		9,890	42.3	7.1	9,929	42.2	4.8
	Left	Anja Müller		6,141	26.3	2.4	5,798	24.6	0.9
	SPD	Jürgen Holland-Nell		3,979	17.0	2.5	2,901	12.3	2.6
	AfD						1,860	7.9
	NPD	Tobias Kammler		1,355	5.8	0.7	1,104	4.7	1.3
	Greens	Andreas Hundertmark		1,290	5.5	1.5	873	3.7	0.0
	FDP	Helmut Hempel		717	3.1	3.9	390	1.7	3.9
	List-only parties						674	2.9
Informal votes				410			253
Total valid votes				23,372			23,529
Turnout				23,782	49.4	4.7
	CDU hold		Majority	3,749	16.0	4.7

2009 election

State election (2009): Wartburgkreis I[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	Y Manfred Grob		9,535	35.2	4.7	10,144	37.4	0.4
	Left	Frank Kuschel		6,458	23.9	5.8	6,915	25.5	3.6
	SPD	Thomas Fischer		3,935	14.5	2.7	4,053	14.9	2.8
	Free Voters	Werner Hellmann		2,424	9.0		1,708	6.3	11.7
	FDP	Jürgen Bohn		1,887	7.0	0.3	1,508	5.6	2.9
	NPD	Tobias Kammler		1,759	6.5		1,636	6.0	4.7
	Greens	Mario Amling		1,074	4.0	1.9	1,000	3.7	0.7
	List-only parties						168	0.6
Informal votes				524			464
Total valid votes				27,072			27,132
Turnout				27,596	54.1	4.8
	CDU hold		Majority	3,077	11.3	1.1

2004 election

State election (2004): Wartburgkreis I[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 Manfred Grob		11,398	39.9	9.8	10,874	37.0	16.3
	PDS	Christina Michael		8,478	29.7	9.9	6,435	21.9	2.7
	Free Voters						5,274	18.0
	SPD	Frank Pach		4,920	17.2	6.9	3,549	12.1	6.4
	FDP	Jürgen Bohn		2,088	7.3	5.0	807	2.7	1.5
	Greens	Helge Fibich		1,682	5.9		888	3.0	1.6
	List-only parties						1,538	5.2
Informal votes				2,080			1,281
Total valid votes				28,566			29,365
Turnout				30,646	58.9	0.7
	CDU hold		Majority	2,920	10.2	15.4

1999 election

State election (1999): Wartburgkreis I[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	Manfred Grob		14,760	49.7	6.8	15,937	53.3	8.2
	SPD	Günter Pohl		7,153	24.1	11.1	5,525	18.5	11.9
	PDS	Christina Michael		5,881	19.8	6.5	5,746	19.2	5.0
	REP	Silvio Dettmar		777	2.6		260	0.9	0.5
	FDP	Gerhard Petter		685	2.3	1.0	345	1.2	2.2
	Independent	Gustav Josef Eib		442	1.5
	List-only parties						2,072	6.9
Informal votes				643			456
Total valid votes				29,698			29,885
Turnout				30,341	58.2	17.5
	CDU hold		Majority	7,607	25.6	17.9

1994 election

State election (1994): Wartburgkreis I[8]
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	Hans-Peter Häfner		16,330	42.9		17,272	45.1
	SPD	Günter Pohl		13,411	35.2		11,627	30.4
	PDS	Eva-Maria Förtsch		5,054	13.3		5,427	14.2
	Greens	Gerhard Wien		2,045	5.4		1,675	4.4
	FDP	Gerhard Petter		1,251	3.3		1,292	3.4
	List-only parties						994	2.6
Informal votes				1,474			1,278
Total valid votes				38,091			38,287
Turnout				39,565	75.7
	CDU win new seat		Majority	2,919	7.7