Helmstedt – Wolfsburg

Helmstedt – Wolfsburg 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 51. It is located in southeastern Lower Saxony, comprising the city of Wolfsburg, the district of Helmstedt, and part of the district of Gifhorn.^[1]

51 Helmstedt – Wolfsburg
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Helmstedt – Wolfsburg in 2025
State	Lower Saxony
Population	242,200 (2019)
Electorate	180,147 (2021)
Major settlements	Wolfsburg Helmstedt
Area	1,165.2 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	SPD
Member	Falko Mohrs
Elected	2017, 2021

Helmstedt – Wolfsburg was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2017, it has been represented by Falko Mohrs of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).^[2] Mohrs resigned in 2022, to join the Second Weil cabinet.

Geography

Helmstedt – Wolfsburg is located in southeastern Lower Saxony. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the independent city of Wolfsburg, the district of Helmstedt, and the Samtgemeinden of Boldecker Land and Brome and the Giebel area from the Gifhorn district.^[1]

History

Helmstedt – Wolfsburg was created in 1949, then known as Braunschweig-Land – Helmstedt. It acquired its current name in the 1965 election. In the inaugural Bundestag election, it was Lower Saxony constituency 29 in the numbering system. From 1953 through 1961, it was number 51. From 1965 through 1998, it was number 46. In the 2002 and 2005 elections, it was number 51. In the 2009 election, it was number 52. Since the 2013 election, it has been number 51.

Originally, the constituency comprised the district of Helmstedt and the now-abolished Landkreis Braunschweig district without the Samtgemeinde of Thedinghausen. In the 1965 through 1972 elections, it comprised the independent city of Wolfsburg and the districts of Helmtedt and Landkreis Braunschweig, again excluding Thedinghausen. In the 1976 election, it comprised Wolfsburg, Helmstedt, and the municipality of Cremlingen and Samtgemeinde of Sickte from the district of Wolfenbüttel. In the 1980 through 1998 elections, it comprised the city of Wolfsburg and district of Helmstedt. It acquired its current borders in the 2002 election.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	29	Braunschweig-Land – Helmstedt	Helmstedt district Braunschweig district (excluding Thedinghausen Samtgemeinde)
1953	51
1957
1961
1965	46	Helmstedt – Wolfsburg	Wolfsburg city Helmstedt district Braunschweig district (excluding Thedinghausen Samtgemeinde)
1969
1972
1976			Wolfsburg city Helmstedt district Wolfenbüttel district (only Cremlingen municipality and Sickte Samtgemeinde)
1980			Wolfsburg city Helmstedt district
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	51		Wolfsburg city Helmstedt district Gifhorn district (only Boldecker Land and Brome Samtgemeinden and the Giebel area)
2005
2009	52
2013	51
2017
2021
2025

Members

The constituency was first held by Hermann Troppenz of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), who served from 1949 to 1953. Alfred Burgemeister of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won in 1953 and served until 1969. Rudolf Hauck of the SPD then served until 1983, when Volkmar Köhler of the CDU won the constituency. Fellow party member Heinrich-Wilhelm Ronsöhr served from 1994 to 1998. In 1998, SPD candidate Bodo Seidenthal regained the constituency, and served a single term. He was succeeded by Hans-Jürgen Uhl, who was elected in 2002 and 2005. Günter Lach of the CDU served from 2009 to 2017. Falko Mohrs has been representative since the 2017 election.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	Hermann Troppenz	SPD	31.3
	1953	Alfred Burgemeister	CDU	36.9
	1957			46.2
	1961			44.5
	1965			49.7
	1969	Rudolf Hauck	SPD	47.1
	1972			53.0
	1976			47.2
	1980			48.2
	1983	Volkmar Köhler	CDU	52.4
	1987			47.7
	1990			50.6
	1994	Heinrich-Wilhelm Ronsöhr	CDU	47.7
	1998	Bodo Seidenthal	SPD	52.7
	2002	Hans-Jürgen Uhl	SPD	53.5
	2005			49.5
	2009	Günter Lach	CDU	39.4
	2013			44.7
	2017	Falko Mohrs	SPD	38.0
	2021			42.1

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Helmstedt – Wolfsburg[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 Falko Mohrs		54,349	42.1	4.1	45,414	35.1	5.2
	CDU	Andreas Weber		34,367	26.6	8.3	31,827	24.6	9.9
	AfD	Stephanie Scharfenberg		12,339	9.6	0.6	12,241	9.5	1.5
	Greens	Frank Bsirske		11,305	8.8	4.3	15,481	12.0	6.1
	FDP	Kristin Krumm		9,766	7.6	1.8	13,073	10.1	2.0
	Left	Bernd Mex		3,575	2.8	3.2	3,496	2.7	3.9
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,749	1.4	0.4
	dieBasis						1,520	1.2
	PARTEI						1,192	0.9	0.0
	FW	Frank Schrödl		2,113	1.6		1,128	0.9	0.5
	Pirates						529	0.4	0.0
	Team Todenhöfer						381	0.3
	Volt						362	0.3
	ÖDP	Dora Weigl		486	0.4		204	0.2	0.0
	Independent	Johann Hönig		485	0.4
	Independent	Wilfried Wiesenthal		200	0.2
	NPD						200	0.2	0.3
	Humanists						118	0.1
	du.						106	0.1
	V-Partei3						85	0.1	0.1
	Independent	Peter Kunick		63	0.0
	LKR						40	0.0
	DKP						32	0.0	0.0
	MLPD						26	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,623			1,467
Total valid votes				129,048			129,204
Turnout				130,671	72.5	2.1
	SPD hold		Majority	19,982	15.5	12.4

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Helmstedt – Wolfsburg[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	Falko Mohrs		51,646	38.0	0.7	40,740	30.0	4.8
	CDU	N Günter Lach		47,416	34.9	9.8	47,037	34.6	6.5
	AfD	Thomas Schlick		13,857	10.2		14,862	10.9	7.2
	Left	Pia Zimmermann		8,128	6.0	1.6	9,050	6.7	1.8
	FDP	Kristin Krumm		7,791	5.7	4.3	10,988	8.1	4.4
	Greens	Volker Möll		6,096	4.5	0.6	8,064	5.9	0.9
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,307	1.0	0.1
	PARTEI						1,229	0.9
	Independent	Günter Hönig		746	0.5
	NPD						623	0.5	0.9
	Pirates						592	0.4	1.4
	FW						455	0.3	0.2
	DM						276	0.2
	ÖDP						198	0.1
	V-Partei³						194	0.1
	MLPD	Gerhard Pfisterer		152	0.1		82	0.1	0.0
	DiB						141	0.1
	BGE						138	0.1
	DKP						36	0.0
Informal votes				1,471			1,291
Total valid votes				135,832			136,012
Turnout				137,303	74.6	3.5
	SPD gain from CDU		Majority	4,230	3.1

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Helmstedt – Wolfsburg[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 Günter Lach		58,760	44.7	5.3	54,188	41.1	7.2
	SPD	Heinz-Joachim Barchmann		50,826	38.7	4.1	45,837	34.8	3.0
	Greens	Volker Möll		6,666	5.1	3.0	9,004	6.8	2.0
	Left	Pia Zimmermann		5,731	4.4	3.3	6,440	4.9	3.6
	AfD						4,892	3.7
	Pirates	Jürgen Stemke		2,972	2.3		2,460	1.9	0.3
	NPD	Friedrich Preuß		2,599	2.0	0.3	1,840	1.4	0.6
	FDP	Verony Reichelt		1,839	1.4	5.0	4,796	3.6	6.9
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,182	0.9	0.0
	FW	Gabriele Chartier		1,049	0.8		643	0.5
	Independent	Günter Hönig		569	0.4
	PBC	Detleff Karstens		331	0.3	0.1	254	0.2
	PRO						157	0.1
	REP						44	0.0
	MLPD						38	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,927			1,494
Total valid votes				131,342			131,775
Turnout				133,269	71.1	0.9
	CDU hold		Majority	7,934	6.0	1.2

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Helmstedt – Wolfsburg[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	Günter Lach		52,427	39.4	2.1	45,319	34.0	2.1
	SPD	Heinz-Joachim Barchmann		46,064	34.6	14.9	42,391	31.8	15.0
	Greens	Torsten Koch		10,692	8.0	4.3	11,801	8.8	3.1
	Left	Dorothée Menzner		10,216	7.7	3.8	11,309	8.5	4.0
	FDP	Michael Heitchen		8,480	6.4	3.1	14,114	10.6	2.8
	NPD	Friedrich Preuß		3,023	2.3	0.4	2,606	2.0	0.2
	Pirates						2,905	2.2
	RRP	Klaus Glahn		1,748	1.3		1,591	1.2
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,176	0.9	0.2
	PBC	Detleff Karstens		415	0.3
	ÖDP						112	0.1
	DVU						101	0.1
	MLPD						46	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,196			1,790
Total valid votes				133,065			133,471
Turnout				135,261	72.0	6.5
	CDU gain from SPD		Majority	6,363	4.8

References

1. "Constituency Helmstedt – Wolfsburg". Federal Returning Officer.
2. "Results for Helmstedt – Wolfsburg". Federal Returning Officer.
3. Results for Helmstedt – Wolfsburg
4. Results for Helmstedt – Wolfsburg
5. Results for Helmstedt – Wolfsburg
6. Results for Helmstedt – Wolfsburg