Kaiserslautern (electoral district)

Kaiserslautern 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 208. It is located in southern Rhineland-Palatinate, comprising the city of Kaiserslautern, the Donnersbergkreis district, the Kusel district, and the northeastern part of the Landkreis Kaiserslautern district.^[1]

208 Kaiserslautern
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Kaiserslautern in 2025
State	Rhineland-Palatinate
Population	298,200 (2019)
Electorate	224,701 (2021)
Major settlements	Kaiserslautern Eisenberg Kirchheimbolanden
Area	1,696.2 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	SPD
Member	Matthias Mieves
Elected	2021

Kaiserslautern was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2023, it has been represented by Matthias Mieves of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).^[2]

Geography

Kaiserslautern is located in southern Rhineland-Palatinate. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the independent city of Kaiserslautern, the district of Donnersbergkreis, the district of Donnersbergkreis, and the Verbandsgemeinden of Enkenbach-Alsenborn, Otterbach-Otterberg, and Weilerbach.^[1]

History

Kaiserslautern was created in 1949. In the 1949 election, it was Rhineland-Palatinate constituency 13 in the numbering system. In the 1953 through 1961 elections, it was number 160. In the 1965 through 1976 elections, it was number 161. In the 1980 through 1998 elections, it was number 159. In the 2002 election, it was number 212. In the 2005 election, it was number 211. In the 2009 and 2013 elections, it was number 210. In the 2017 and 2021 elections, it was number 209. From the 2025 election, it has been number 208.

Originally, the constituency comprised the city of Kaiserslautern and the districts of Landkreis Kaiserslautern and Kusel. It acquired its current borders in the 2002 election.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	13	Kaiserslautern	Kaiserslautern city Kusel district Landkreis Kaiserslautern district
1953	160
1957
1961
1965	161
1969
1972
1976
1980	159
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	212		Kaiserslautern city Donnersbergkreis district Kusel district Landkreis Kaiserslautern district (only Enkenbach-Alsenborn, Otterbach-Otterberg, and Weilerbach Verbandsgemeinden)
2005	211
2009	210
2013
2017	209
2021
2025	208

Members

The constituency has been held by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) during all but two Bundestag terms since its creation. It was first represented by Adolf Ludwig of the SPD from 1949 to 1953. August Spies of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) was elected in 1953 and served until 1961. Adolf Müller-Emmert regained it for the SPD in 1961 and was representative until 1987, a total of seven consecutive terms. He was succeeded by Rose Götte from 1987 to 1994. Hansjörg Schäfer then served two terms from 1994 to 2002. Gustav Herzog was representative from 2002 to 2021. He was succeeded by Matthias Mieves in 2021.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	Adolf Ludwig	SPD	36.5
	1953	August Spies	CDU	37.8
	1957			42.8
	1961	Adolf Müller-Emmert	SPD	41.4
	1965			46.5
	1969			49.4
	1972			55.7
	1976			50.8
	1980			52.6
	1983			48.9
	1987	Rose Götte	SPD	48.7
	1990			47.3
	1994	Hansjörg Schäfer	SPD	47.9
	1998			50.9
	2002	Gustav Herzog	SPD	49.9
	2005			44.2
	2009			34.6
	2013			38.5
	2017			33.9
	2021	Matthias Mieves	SPD	33.9

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Kaiserslautern[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	Matthias Mieves		56,523	33.9	0.0	54,460	32.5	4.3
	CDU	Xaver Jung		35,803	21.5	9.8	33,226	19.8	9.3
	AfD	Marco Staudt		20,002	12.0	0.6	20,702	12.4	1.3
	Greens	Michael Kunte		14,589	8.7	3.7	17,611	10.5	3.8
	FW	Thomas Lebkücher		12,225	7.3	4.5	8,042	4.8	2.7
	FDP	Jana Lumbur		11,870	7.1	1.7	17,242	10.3	1.2
	Left	Alexander Ulrich		6,753	4.1	3.2	6,383	3.8	4.2
	Human Environment Animal Protection	Patrick Kühn-Breisch		3,197	1.9		3,168	1.9
	PARTEI	Derya Sujana-Şen		2,154	1.3	0.2	1,641	1.0	0.3
	dieBasis	Torsten Friedrichs		2,159	1.3		2,055	1.2
	Pirates						695	0.4	0.1
	Volt	Malte Schümann		801	0.5		685	0.4
	Team Todenhöfer						432	0.3
	Independent	Marius Lauer		392	0.2
	NPD						298	0.2	0.3
	ÖDP						253	0.2	0.0
	Humanists						171	0.1
	V-Partei3						142	0.1	0.2
	DiB						121	0.1
	LKR	Petra Winkler		154	0.1		101	0.1
	Independent	Dirk Hoppe		147	0.1
	MLPD						36	0.0	0.0
	Independent	Dietrich Schwang		28	0.0
Informal votes				2,409			1,742
Total valid votes				166,797			167,464
Turnout				169,206	75.3	0.1
	SPD hold		Majority	20,720	12.4	9.8

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Kaiserslautern[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	Y Gustav Herzog		57,482	33.9	4.6	47,986	28.3	4.4
	CDU	Xaver Jung		53,022	31.3	5.9	49,400	29.1	6.8
	AfD	Stefan Scheil		21,378	12.6		23,206	13.7	9.2
	Left	Alexander Ulrich		12,277	7.2	0.2	13,548	8.0	0.4
	FDP	Achim Oliver Bertram		9,256	5.5	3.2	15,519	9.1	4.6
	Greens	Paul Bunjes		8,618	5.1	0.2	11,360	6.7	0.5
	FW	Günther Mack		4,820	2.8	0.2	3,558	2.1	0.2
	PARTEI	Alexander Mühlmann		2,526	1.5		2,187	1.3
	Pirates						930	0.5	2.1
	NPD						811	0.5	1.4
	V-Partei³						529	0.3
	BGE						355	0.2
	ÖDP						343	0.2	0.0
	MLPD						32	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,937			2,552
Total valid votes				169,379			169,764
Turnout				172,316	75.2	5.0
	SPD hold		Majority	4,460	2.6	1.3

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Kaiserslautern[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 Gustav Herzog		61,253	38.5	4.0	52,242	32.7	5.0
	CDU	Xaver Jung		59,086	37.2	4.3	57,376	35.9	7.7
	Left	Alexander Ulrich		11,813	7.4	6.5	12,107	7.6	6.6
	Greens	Felicitas Flörchinger		8,446	5.3	1.5	11,430	7.1	1.6
	Pirates	Johannes Merkert		4,810	3.0		4,278	2.7	0.5
	FW	Manfred Petry		4,145	2.6		3,031	1.9
	NPD	Klaus Alfons Gras		3,953	2.5	0.1	3,080	1.9	0.1
	FDP	Christian Kopp		3,584	2.3	7.0	7,315	4.6	9.7
	AfD						7,101	4.4
	FAMILIE	Anette Sabine Metzger		1,896	1.2
	REP						580	0.4	0.5
	Party of Reason						535	0.3
	PRO						415	0.3
	ÖDP						323	0.2	0.1
	MLPD						55	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				4,024			3,142
Total valid votes				158,986			159,868
Turnout				163,010	70.2	0.7
	SPD hold		Majority	2,167	1.3	0.5

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Kaiserslautern[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 Gustav Herzog		55,070	34.6	9.7	44,362	27.7	11.2
	CDU	Xaver Jung		52,311	32.8	2.5	45,212	28.2	1.3
	Left	Alexander Ulrich		22,205	13.9	5.7	22,670	14.2	5.4
	FDP	Brigitta Röthig-Wentz		14,725	9.2	4.3	22,932	14.3	3.9
	Greens	Dirk Just		10,834	6.8	2.5	13,936	8.7	1.6
	Pirates						3,421	2.1
	NPD	Sascha Wagner		4,143	2.6	0.2	3,197	2.0	0.3
	FAMILIE						2,074	1.3	0.1
	REP						1,373	0.9	0.4
	PBC						414	0.3	0.1
	ÖDP						406	0.3
	DVU						132	0.1
	MLPD						55	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				4,062			3,166
Total valid votes				159,288			160,184
Turnout				163,350	69.5	7.0
	SPD hold		Majority	2,759	1.8	7.2

References

1. "Constituency Kaiserslautern". Federal Returning Officer.
2. "Results for Kaiserslautern". Federal Returning Officer.
3. Results for Kaiserslautern
4. Results for Kaiserslautern
5. Results for Kaiserslautern
6. Results for Kaiserslautern