37 Lüchow-Dannenberg – Lüneburg
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Lüchow-Dannenberg – Lüneburg in 2013
State	Lower Saxony
Population	232,600 (2019)
Electorate	182,673 (2017)
Major settlements	Lüneburg
Area	2,555.1 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	SPD
Member	Jakob Blankenburg
Elected	2021

Lüchow-Dannenberg – Lüneburg 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 37. It is located in northeastern Lower Saxony, comprising the Lüchow-Dannenberg and Lüneburg districts.^[1]

Lüchow-Dannenberg – Lüneburg was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2009, it has been represented by Jakob Blankenburg of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).^[2]

Geography

Lüchow-Dannenberg – Lüneburg is located in northeastern Lower Saxony. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the entirety of the districts of Lüchow-Dannenberg and Lüneburg.^[1]

History

Lüchow-Dannenberg – Lüneburg was created in 1949, then known as Lüneburg – Dannenberg. In the 1965 through 1998 elections, it was named Lüneburg – Lüchow-Dannenberg. It acquired its current name in the 2002 election. In the inaugural Bundestag election, it was Lower Saxony constituency 13 in the numbering system. From 1953 through 1961, it was number 35. From 1965 through 1998, it was number 31. In the 2002 and 2005 elections, it was number 37. In the 2009 election, it was number 38. Since the 2013 election, it has been number 37.

Originally, the constituency comprised the independent city of Lüneburg and the districts of Landkreis Lüneburg and Lüchow-Dannenberg. In the 1953 election, it gained the Uelzen district with the exception of the city of Uelzen and the Samtgemeinden of Altes Amt Ebstorf and Suderburg. In the 1980 through 1998 elections, it comprised only the Lüchow-Dannenberg and Lüneburg districts. In the 2002 and 2005 elections, it also contained the Samtgemeinden of Elbmarsch, Hanstedt, and Salzhausen from Harburg district and the municipality of Munster from Soltau-Fallingbostel district. Since the 2009 election, it has comprised only the Lüchow-Dannenberg and Lüneburg districts.

Members

The constituency was first held by Friedrich Nowack of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), who served from 1949 until 1953. He was succeeded by Willi Koops of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who served a single term. He was succeeded by fellow CDU member Lambert Huys. In 1972, Horst Schröder of the CDU was elected representative. Klaus Harries served from 1987 to 1994, then Kurt-Dieter Grill from 1994 to 1998. The SPD won the constituency in 1998, and Arne Fuhrmann served a single term as representative. Hedi Wegener then served from 2002 to 2005. In 2009, Eckhard Pols of the CDU won the constituency. He was re-elected in 2013 and 2017. Jakob Blankenburg won the constituency for the SPD in 2021.

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Lüchow-Dannenberg – Lüneburg[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	%	±%
	SPD	Jakob Blankenburg		38,784	28.2	0.1	41,262	29.9	6.4
	Greens	Julia Verlinden		34,606	25.1	10.4	30,585	22.1	8.7
	CDU	N Eckhard Pols		34,287	24.9	8.6	29,032	21.0	10.3
	FDP	Edzard Schmidt-Jortzig		9,513	6.9	0.3	13,241	9.6	0.3
	AfD	Armin-Paulus Hampel		8,603	6.3	2.4	9,145	6.6	2.3
	Left	Thorben Peters		5,378	3.9	4.5	6,328	4.6	4.5
	dieBasis	Sören Köppen		2,542	1.8		2,399	1.7
	Tierschutzpartei						1,681	1.2	0.1
	PARTEI	Meike Hilbeck		2,187	1.6		1,489	1.1	0.1
	FW	Volker Heinecke		1,561	1.1		1,161	0.8	0.4
	Pirates						453	0.3	0.0
	Volt						368	0.3
	Team Todenhöfer						189	0.1
	NPD						179	0.1	0.2
	ÖDP						147	0.1	0.1
	Humanists						119	0.1
	du.						94	0.1
	V-Partei3						91	0.1	0.1
	DKP						65	0.1	0.0
	LKR	Fronke Gerken		105	0.1		53	0.0
	Independent	Tristan Großkopf		71	0.1
	MLPD						25	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,546			1,077
Total Valid votes				137,637			138,106
Turnout				139,183	76.2	1.8
	SPD gain from CDU		Majority	4,178	3.1

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Lüchow-Dannenberg – Lüneburg[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 Eckhard Pols		46,740	33.5	6.3	43,861	31.3	5.5
	SPD	Hiltrud Lotze		39,169	28.1	5.6	32,865	23.5	5.6
	Greens	Julia Verlinden		20,604	14.8	2.7	18,906	13.5	0.8
	AfD	Gunter Runkel		12,131	8.7	5.0	12,498	8.9	4.5
	Left	Michèl Pauly		11,729	8.4	2.5	12,705	9.1	2.1
	FDP	Edzard Schmidt-Jortzig		9,245	6.6	5.0	12,959	9.2	5.3
	Tierschutzpartei						1,506	1.1	0.3
	PARTEI						1,387	1.0
	BGE						881	0.6
	FW						552	0.4
	Pirates						486	0.3	1.9
	NPD						395	0.3	0.6
	DiB						312	0.2
	DM						263	0.2
	ÖDP						250	0.2
	V-Partei³						241	0.2
	DKP						36	0.0
	MLPD						36	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,382			861
Total Valid votes				139,618			140,139
Turnout				141,000	78.0	3.4
	CDU hold		Majority	7,571	5.4	0.7

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Lüchow-Dannenberg – Lüneburg[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 Eckhard Pols		52,644	39.8	6.5	48,756	36.8	8.2
	SPD	Hiltrud Lotze		44,491	33.7	2.5	38,415	29.0	4.2
	Greens	Julia Verlinden		15,918	12.0	3.1	18,892	14.3	3.8
	Left	Johanna Voß		7,784	5.9	3.3	9,202	6.9	3.2
	AfD	Michael Recha		4,925	3.7		5,852	4.4
	Pirates	Olaf Forberger		2,879	2.2		3,000	2.3	0.1
	FDP	Tobias Debuch		2,112	1.6	7.1	5,281	4.0	8.6
	NPD	Manfred Börm		1,240	0.9	0.5	1,145	0.9	0.4
	Tierschutzpartei						1,081	0.8	0.0
	FW						402	0.3
	PBC	Sonni Tonne		206	0.2		177	0.1
	PRO						136	0.1
	REP						47	0.0
	MLPD						30	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,375			1,158
Total Valid votes				132,199			132,416
Turnout				133,574	74.6	0.4
	CDU hold		Majority	8,153	6.1	3.9

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Lüchow-Dannenberg – Lüneburg[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	Eckhard Pols		43,229	33.3	2.7	37,291	28.7	2.1
	SPD	Hiltrud Lotze		40,411	31.1	13.7	32,321	24.8	14.5
	Greens	Andreas Meihsies		19,645	15.1	6.7	23,543	18.1	6.1
	Left	Johanna Voß		11,935	9.2	4.0	13,166	10.1	4.1
	FDP	Boris Freiherr von der Bussche		11,242	8.7	4.6	16,323	12.5	3.3
	Pirates						2,795	2.0
	NPD	Christian Berisha		1,860	1.4	0.0	1,594	1.2	0.1
	Tierschutzpartei						1,002	0.8	0.2
	RRP	Horst Gilles		1,449	1.1		1,703	1.3
	ÖDP						194	0.1
	DVU						135	0.1
	MLPD						32	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,695			1,366
Total Valid votes				129,771			130,100
Turnout				131,466	74.2	5.0
	CDU gain from SPD		Majority	2,818	2.2

References