Friesland – Wilhelmshaven – Wittmund

Friesland – Wilhelmshaven – Wittmund 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 26. It is located in northwestern Lower Saxony, comprising the city of Wilhelmshaven and the districts of Friesland and Wittmund.^[1]

26 Friesland – Wilhelmshaven – Wittmund
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Friesland – Wilhelmshaven – Wittmund in 2025
State	Lower Saxony
Population	231,700 (2019)
Electorate	189,047 (2021)
Major settlements	Wilhelmshaven Wittmund
Area	1,373.5 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	SPD
Member	Siemtje Möller
Elected	2017, 2021

Friesland – Wilhelmshaven – Wittmund was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2017, it has been represented by Siemtje Möller of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).^[2]

Geography

Friesland – Wilhelmshaven – Wittmund is located in northwestern Lower Saxony. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the independent city of Wilhelmshaven and the entirety of the districts of Friesland and Wittmund.^[1]

History

Unterems was created in 1949. In the 1949 election, it was Lower Saxony constituency 3. For the 1953 through 1961 elections, it was constituency 25 in the numbering system. From 1965 through 1998, it was constituency 21; from 2002 through 2009, it was constituency 27. Since the 2013 election, it has been constituency 26.

Originally, it comprised the city of Wilhelmshaven and the district of Friesland. At this time, it was named Wilhelmshaven – Friesland. In the 1965 election, the constituency gained the districts of Aurich and Wittmund, while losing the municipalities of Bockhorn, Neuenburg, Sande, Varel, Varel-Land, and Zetel, which were transferred to the Oldenburg constituency. Due to administrative reforms, in the 1976 election, it lost the municipality of Gödens.

In the 1980 election, the constituency was renamed to Friesland – Wilhelmshaven, and gained the municipality of Sande. The municipalities of Bockhorn, Varel, and Zetel also returned to the constituency in the 2002 election. In the 2013 election, it acquired its current name of Friesland – Wilhelmshaven – Wittmund.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	3	Wilhelmshaven – Friesland	Wilhelmshaven city Friesland district
1953	25
1957
1961
1965	21		Wilhelmshaven city Friesland district (excluding Bockhorn, Neuenburg, Sande, Varel, Varel-Land, and Zetel municipalities) Aurich district Wittmund district
1969
1972
1976
1980		Friesland – Wilhelmshaven	Wilhelmshaven city Friesland district (excluding Bockhorn, Varel, and Zetel municipalities) Wittmund district
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	27		Wilhelmshaven city Friesland district Wittmund district
2005
2009
2013	26	Friesland – Wilhelmshaven – Wittmund
2017
2021
2025

Members

The constituency has been held by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) during all but three Bundestag terms since 1949; it has returned a representative from the SPD in every federal election since 1969. Its first representative was Johann Cramer of the SPD, who served a single term from 1949 to 1953. In 1953, the constituency was won by Hellmuth Heye of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who served until 1961. Cramer won the constituency back for the SPD in 1961, but Felix von Eckardt of the CDU won it in 1965. Cramer again won the constituency in 1969, and served a third term. He was succeeded by Herbert Ehrenberg in 1972, who served until 1990. Gabriele Iwersen served from 1990 to 2002, followed by Karin Evers-Meyer from 2002 to 2017. Siemtje Möller won the constituency in 2017.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	Johann Cramer	SPD	32.6
	1953	Hellmuth Heye	CDU	37.8
	1957			43.2
	1961	Johann Cramer	SPD	44.3
	1965	Felix von Eckardt	CDU	44.5
	1969	Johann Cramer	SPD	48.3
	1972	Herbert Ehrenberg	SPD	57.2
	1976			53.8
	1980			54.6
	1983			47.2
	1987			48.1
	1990	Gabriele Iwersen	SPD	43.6
	1994			47.9
	1998			53.3
	2002	Karin Evers-Meyer	SPD	54.8
	2005			50.4
	2009			39.9
	2013			44.1
	2017	Siemtje Möller	SPD	39.7
	2021			45.4

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Friesland – Wilhelmshaven – Wittmund[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	Y Siemtje Möller		60,392	45.4	5.7	50,448	38.0	7.3
	CDU	Anne Janssen		29,286	22.0	10.4	28,535	21.5	11.3
	Greens	Sina Beckmann		13,504	10.2	4.7	17,020	12.8	5.5
	AfD	Joachim Wundrak		10,227	7.7	0.6	10,951	8.2	0.8
	FDP	Hendrik Theemann		9,502	7.1	1.3	13,874	10.4	1.0
	Left	Hans-Henning Adler		3,460	2.6	3.3	4,122	3.1	4.0
	Human Environment Animal Protection						2,201	1.7	0.6
	PARTEI	Andreas Tönjes		2,651	2.0	0.7	1,539	1.2	0.3
	FW	Andreas Lang		2,611	2.0	1.1	1,512	1.1	0.5
	dieBasis	Andrea Henning		1,275	1.0		1,155	0.9
	Pirates						419	0.3	0.0
	Team Todenhöfer						298	0.2
	Volt						266	0.2
	NPD						125	0.1	0.2
	Humanists						115	0.1
	V-Partei3						92	0.1	0.0
	du.						91	0.1
	ÖDP						62	0.0	0.0
	MLPD	Carsten Zimmer		68	0.1	0.1	50	0.0	0.0
	LKR						34	0.0
	DKP						21	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,188			1,234
Total valid votes				132,976			132,930
Turnout				134,164	71.0	2.5
	SPD hold		Majority	31,106	23.4	16.1

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Friesland – Wilhelmshaven – Wittmund[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	Siemtje Möller		54,504	39.7	4.5	42,207	30.7	5.6
	CDU	Hans-Werner Kammer		44,537	32.4	7.2	45,098	32.8	5.6
	AfD	Achim Postert		11,392	8.3		12,490	9.1	4.9
	Left	Holger Onken		8,127	5.9	0.8	9,738	7.1	1.9
	FDP	Hendrik Theemann		8,074	5.9	3.6	12,958	9.4	5.1
	Greens	Victor Alexander von Fintel		7,542	5.5	0.1	9,984	6.3	0.1
	PARTEI	Andreas Tönjes		1,749	1.3		1,216	0.9
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,423	1.0	0.1
	FW	Udo Striess-Grubert		1,236	0.9	1.0	880	0.6	0.2
	NPD						389	0.3	0.6
	Pirates						377	0.3	1.2
	MLPD	Conrad-Lüder von Petz		182	0.1		93	0.1	0.0
	DM						177	0.1
	BGE						175	0.1
	V-Partei³						150	0.1
	DiB						121	0.1
	ÖDP						90	0.1
	DKP						30	0.0
Informal votes				1,810			1,557
Total valid votes				137,343			137,596
Turnout				139,153	73.5	2.9
	SPD hold		Majority	9,967	7.3	2.9

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Friesland – Wilhelmshaven – Wittmund[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	%	±%
	SPD	Y Karin Evers-Meyer		58,178	44.1	4.3	48,011	36.3	5.2
	CDU	Hans-Werner Kammer		52,275	39.7	7.2	50,796	38.4	8.8
	Greens	V. Alexander von Fintel		7,362	5.6	1.9	9,731	7.3	1.8
	Left	Ralph T. Niemeyer		6,736	5.1	4.2	6,814	5.1	5.2
	FDP	Lübbo Meppen		3,024	2.3	7.1	5,670	4.3	10.4
	AfD						5,479	4.1
	FW	Udo Striess-Grubert		2,538	1.9		1,106	0.8
	Pirates						2,007	1.5	0.4
	NPD	Sebastian Weist		1,680	1.3	0.2	1,206	0.9	0.3
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,194	0.9	0.1
	PRO						149	0.1
	REP						87	0.1
	PBC						82	0.1
	MLPD						70	0.1	0.0
Informal votes				2,369			1,760
Total valid votes				131,793			132,402
Turnout				134,162	70.6	0.9
	SPD hold		Majority	5,903	4.4	3.1

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Friesland – Wilhelmshaven[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	%	±%
	SPD	Y Karin Evers-Meyer		51,851	39.9	10.6	40,610	31.0	15.6
	CDU	Hans-Werner Kammer		42,211	32.4	1.3	38,728	29.6	0.9
	FDP	Lübbo Meppen		12,283	9.4	4.4	19,204	14.7	5.8
	Left	Anja Kindo		12,055	9.3	5.1	13,572	10.4	5.5
	Greens	Peter Sokolowski		9,794	7.5	3.7	12,009	9.2	3.3
	Pirates						2,452	1.9
	NPD	Werner Klawun		1,911	1.5	0.2	1,570	1.2	0.3
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,277	1.0	0.2
	RRP						1,071	0.8
	ÖDP						112	0.1
	DVU						106	0.1
	MLPD						85	0.1	0.0
Informal votes				2,630			1,939
Total valid votes				130,105			130,796
Turnout				132,735	69.7	7.1
	SPD hold		Majority	9,640	7.4	9.2

References

1. "Constituency Friesland – Wilhelmshaven – Wittmund". Federal Returning Officer.
2. "Results for Friesland – Wilhelmshaven – Wittmund". Federal Returning Officer.
3. Results for Friesland – Wilhelmshaven – Wittmund
4. Results for Friesland – Wilhelmshaven – Wittmund
5. Results for Friesland – Wilhelmshaven – Wittmund
6. Results for Friesland – Wilhelmshaven