211 Südpfalz
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Südpfalz in 2017
State	Rhineland-Palatinate
Population	286,400 (2019)
Electorate	217,000 (2021)
Major settlements	Landau Germersheim Wörth am Rhein
Area	1,186.2 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1965
Party	SPD
Member	Thomas Hitschler
Elected	2021

Südpfalz 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 211. It is located in southern Rhineland-Palatinate, comprising the city of Landau and the districts of Germersheim and Südliche Weinstraße.^[1]

Südpfalz was created for the 1965 federal election. Since 2021, it has been represented by Thomas Hitschler of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).^[2]

Geography

Südpfalz is located in southern Rhineland-Palatinate. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the independent city of Landau and the districts of Germersheim and Südliche Weinstraße.^[1]

History

Südpfalz was created in 1965, then known as Landau. It acquired its current name in the 1987 election. In the 1965 through 1976 elections, it was constituency 163 in the numbering system. In the 1980 through 1998 elections, it was number 161. In the 2002 election, it was number 214. In the 2005 election, it was number 213. In the 2009 and 2013 elections, it was number 212. Since the 2017 election, it has been number 211.

Originally, the constituency comprised the city of Landau, and the districts of Landkreis Landau, Germersheim, and Bergzabern. In the 1972 and 1976 elections, it comprised the city of Landau, and the districts of Landau-Bad Bergzabern and Germersheim. It acquired its current borders in the 1980 election.

Members

The constituency has been held by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) during all but one Bundestag term since its creation. It was first represented by Albert Leicht from 1965 to 1980. Heiner Geißler served from 1980 to 2002. Ralf Göbel was then representative from 2002 to 2009. Thomas Gebhart was elected in 2009, and re-elected in 2013 and 2017. Thomas Hitschler won the constituency for the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in 2021.

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Südpfalz[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	Thomas Hitschler		47,901	28.2	2.2	47,028	27.7	5.8
	CDU	N Thomas Gebhart		47,860	28.2	12.1	39,421	23.2	11.6
	Greens	Tobias Lindner		19,058	11.2	3.3	22,882	13.5	4.8
	FDP	Volker Wissing		17,011	10.0	4.0	21,120	12.4	2.1
	AfD	Bernd Schattner		16,658	9.8	2.5	17,702	10.4	3.2
	FW	Steffen Weiß		6,388	3.8	1.1	5,493	3.2	1.6
	Left	Tobias Schreiner		5,222	3.1	1.6	5,598	3.3	3.1
	Tierschutzpartei	Bernd Kriebel		3,019	1.8		3,098	1.8
	dieBasis	Jacqueline Sharma		2,388	1.4		2,389	1.4
	PARTEI	Lukas Rammefanger		1,923	1.1		1,515	0.9	0.1
	Volt	Alexandra Barsuhn		829	0.5		779	0.5
	Team Todenhöfer						665	0.4
	Pirates						659	0.4	0.1
	ÖDP	Sven Leuthner		582	0.3		471	0.3	0.0
	Independent	Erdal Koccu		362	0.2
	Independent	Cyrus Mobasheri		225	0.1
	NPD						218	0.1	0.2
	Independent	Holger Volger		206	0.1
	V-Partei3						194	0.1	0.2
	DiB						182	0.1
	Humanists						151	0.1
	LKR						73	0.0
	MLPD						38	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,627			1,583
Total Valid votes				169,632			169,676
Turnout				171,259	78.9	0.3
	SPD gain from CDU		Majority	41	0.0

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Südpfalz[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 Thomas Gebhart		68,588	40.3	8.5	59,309	34.8	7.9
	SPD	Thomas Hitschler		44,224	26.0	2.0	37,293	21.9	4.1
	AfD	Heiko Wildberg		20,932	12.3		23,191	13.6	8.7
	Greens	Tobias Lindner		13,500	7.9	0.8	14,788	8.7	0.2
	FDP	Mario Brandenburg		10,209	6.0	2.0	17,560	10.3	4.1
	Left	Simon Georg Bludovsky		8,018	4.7	0.6	10,975	6.4	1.6
	FW	Bernd Ließfeld		4,540	2.7	0.6	2,814	1.7	0.3
	PARTEI						1,706	1.0
	Pirates						796	0.5	2.2
	NPD						537	0.3	0.9
	V-Partei³						520	0.3
	ÖDP						462	0.3	0.2
	BGE						391	0.2
	MLPD						65	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,358			1,962
Total Valid votes				170,011			170,407
Turnout				172,369	79.2	5.8
	CDU hold		Majority	24,364	14.3	6.5

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Südpfalz[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 Thomas Gebhart		75,748	48.8	8.2	66,523	42.7	8.4
	SPD	Thomas Hitschler		43,385	28.0	0.2	40,537	26.0	3.3
	Greens	Tobias Lindner		11,064	7.1	2.1	13,172	8.5	1.8
	Left	Sebastian Frech		6,308	4.1	3.1	7,538	4.8	3.7
	FDP	Volker Wissing		6,217	4.0	8.7	9,677	6.2	10.9
	AfD						7,584	4.9
	Pirates	Kim Julia Orth		4,608	3.0		4,091	2.6	0.5
	FW	Franz Alois Pietruska		3,159	2.0		2,166	1.4
	NPD	Klaus Armstroff		2,082	1.3	0.8	1,833	1.2	0.3
	REP	Frank Herbert Karl Köhler		1,605	1.0		1,233	0.8	0.5
	ÖDP	Rüdiger John		940	0.6		660	0.4	0.0
	Party of Reason						410	0.3
	PRO						349	0.2
	MLPD						71	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				3,545			2,817
Total Valid votes				155,116			155,844
Turnout				158,661	73.4	0.5
	CDU hold		Majority	32,363	20.8	7.8

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Südpfalz[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	Thomas Gebhart		61,994	40.7	2.6	52,517	34.3	2.9
	SPD	Heinz Schmitt		42,287	27.7	9.9	34,790	22.7	9.9
	FDP	Volker Wissing		19,431	12.7	6.5	26,201	17.1	5.0
	Greens	Tobias Lindner[lower-alpha 1]		12,637	8.3	3.5	15,635	10.2	2.3
	Left	Ernst Jakob Kuntz		10,926	7.2	3.3	13,137	8.6	3.7
	Pirates						3,322	2.2
	NPD	Karlheinz Pfirrmann		3,230	2.1	0.8	2,272	1.5	0.2
	REP						1,980	1.3	0.8
	FAMILIE						1,889	1.2	0.1
	Independent	Edeltraud Dietert		1,197	0.8
	Independent	Wolfgang Berger		728	0.5
	ÖDP						609	0.4
	PBC						575	0.4	0.1
	DVU						134	0.1
	MLPD						59	0.0	0.1
Informal votes				3,719			3,029
Total Valid votes				152,430			153,120
Turnout				156,149	72.9	7.0
	CDU hold		Majority	19,707	13.0	7.3

Notes

References