Kulmbach (electoral district)

Kulmbach 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 239. It is located in northern Bavaria, comprising the Kulmbach district, the Lichtenfels district, and the northern part of the Bamberg district.^[1]

239 Kulmbach
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Kulmbach in 2025
State	Bavaria
Population	209,800 (2019)
Electorate	168,923 (2017)
Major settlements	Kulmbach Lichtenfels Bad Staffelstein
Area	1,733.0 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	CSU
Member	Emmi Zeulner
Elected	2013, 2017, 2021

Kulmbach was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2013, it has been represented by Emmi Zeulner of the Christian Social Union (CSU).^[2]

Geography

Kulmbach is located in northern Bavaria. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the districts of Kulmbach and Lichtenfels as well as the municipalities of Bischberg, Breitengüßbach, Gundelsheim, Heiligenstadt in Oberfranken, Kemmern, Litzendorf, Memmelsdorf, Oberhaid, Rattelsdorf, Scheßlitz, Viereth-Trunstadt, and Zapfendorf and the Verwaltungsgemeinschaften of Baunach and Steinfeld from the Bamberg district.^[1]

History

Kulmbach was created in 1949. In the 1949 election, it was Bavaria constituency 29 in the numbering system. In the 1953 through 1961 elections, it was number 224. In the 1965 through 1998 elections, it was number 226. In the 2002 and 2005 elections, it was number 241. In the 2009 through 2021 elections, it was number 240. From the 2025 election, it has been number 239.

Originally, the constituency comprised the independent city of Kulmbach and the districts of Landkreis Kulmbach, Lichtenfels, Naila, and Stadtsteinach. In the 1965 through 1972 elections, it comprised the independent cities of Kulmbach and Forchheim and the districts of Landkreis Kulmbach, Landkreis Forchheim, Lichtenfels, Stadtsteinach, and Ebermannstadt. In the 1976 through 1998 elections, it comprised the districts of Kulmbach and Lichtenfels as well as the municipalities of Baunach, Scheßlitz, Gerach, Heiligenstadt, Königsfeld, Lauter, Rattelsdorf, Reckendorf, Stadelhofen, Wattendorf, and Zapfendorf from the Bamberg district. It acquired its current borders in the 2002 election.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	29	Kulmbach	Kulmbach city Landkreis Kulmbach district Lichtenfels district Naila district Stadtsteinach district
1953	224
1957
1961
1965	226		Kulmbach city Forchheim city Landkreis Kulmbach district Landkreis Forchheim district Lichtenfels district Stadtsteinach district Ebermannstadt district
1969
1972
1976			Kulmbach district Lichtenfels district Bamberg district (only Baunach, Scheßlitz, Gerach, Heiligenstadt in Oberfranken, Königsfeld, Lauter, Rattelsdorf, Reckendorf, Stadelhofen, Wattendorf, and Zapfendorf municipalities)
1980
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	241		Kulmbach district Lichtenfels district Bamberg district (only Bischberg, Breitengüßbach, Gundelsheim, Heiligenstadt in Oberfranken, Kemmern, Litzendorf, Memmelsdorf, Oberhaid, Rattelsdorf, Scheßlitz, Viereth-Trunstadt, and Zapfendorf municipalities and Baunach and Steinfeld Verwaltungsgemeinschaften
2005
2009	240
2013
2017
2021
2025	239

Members

The constituency has been held by the Christian Social Union (CSU) during all but one Bundestag term since its creation. It was first represented by Friedrich Schönauer of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 1949 until his death in 1950. Johannes Semler of the CSU won the resulting by-election. He was succeeded by Max Spörl in the 1953 federal election, followed by Gustav Sühler in 1957, and Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg in 1961. Lorenz Niegel was then representative from 1969 to 1990. Bernd Protzner served from 1990 to 2002, followed by Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg from 2002 to 2013. Emmi Zeulner was elected in 2013, and re-elected in 2017 and 2021.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	Friedrich Schönauer	SPD	27.6
	1950	Johannes Semler	CSU	38.7
	1953	Max Spörl	CSU	51.7
	1957	Gustav Sühler	CSU	53.0
	1961	Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg	CSU	48.8
	1965			59.0
	1969	Lorenz Niegel	CSU	55.0
	1972			56.3
	1976			60.8
	1980			60.4
	1983			65.2
	1987			59.2
	1990	Bernd Protzner	CSU	56.5
	1994			53.3
	1998			49.7
	2002	Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg	CSU	63.0
	2005			60.0
	2009			68.1
	2013	Emmi Zeulner	CSU	56.9
	2017			55.4
	2021			47.8

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Kulmbach[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	%	±%
	CSU	Y Emmi Zeulner		65,163	47.8	7.7	49,389	36.2	7.2
	SPD	Simon Moritz		22,103	16.2	0.1	27,009	19.8	2.1
	AfD	Theo Taubmann		14,416	10.6	1.0	15,774	11.6	1.9
	FW	Jochen Bergmann		10,430	7.6	4.5	10,420	7.6	5.0
	Greens	Martin Pfeiffer		10,165	7.5	3.1	11,966	8.8	2.8
	FDP	Claus Ehrhardt		6,480	4.8	0.7	11,399	8.4	0.6
	Left	Ludwig Baumgartner		2,448	1.8	2.0	2,982	2.2	2.6
	PARTEI	Sven Goller		1,954	1.4		1,199	0.9	0.1
	dieBasis	Otto Gebelein		1,748	1.3		1,718	1.3
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,548	1.1	0.2
	ÖDP	Kay-Uwe Zenker		871	0.6	0.9	605	0.4	0.3
	BP	Gunther Sedlmeyer		619	0.5		446	0.3	0.1
	Pirates						429	0.3	0.0
	Unabhängige						242	0.2
	Team Todenhöfer						214	0.2
	Volt						207	0.2
	Gesundheitsforschung						203	0.1	0.0
	NPD						185	0.1	0.4
	Bündnis C						126	0.1
	The III. Path						124	0.1
	V-Partei3						92	0.1	0.1
	Humanists						82	0.1
	du.						73	0.1
	LKR						32	0.0
	MLPD						27	0.0	0.0
	DKP						16	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				781			671
Total valid votes				136,397			136,507
Turnout				137,178	81.2	2.2
	CSU hold		Majority	43,060	31.6	7.8

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Kulmbach[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	%	±%
	CSU	Y Emmi Zeulner		74,105	55.4	1.5	58,112	43.4	8.9
	SPD	Thomas Bauske		21,494	16.1	6.7	23,675	17.7	3.8
	AfD	Georg Hock		15,497	11.6	8.4	17,997	13.4	9.5
	Greens	Markus Tutsch		5,880	4.4	0.4	7,966	5.9	0.7
	FDP	Stefan Wolf		5,381	4.0	2.4	10,335	7.7	4.0
	Left	Oswald Greim		5,057	3.8	0.8	6,431	4.8	1.2
	FW	Klaus Purucker		4,199	3.1	0.2	3,560	2.7	0.2
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,203	0.9	0.2
	PARTEI						1,006	0.8
	ÖDP	Thomas Müller		2,064	1.5	0.4	932	0.7	0.0
	NPD						742	0.6	1.1
	BP						514	0.4	0.2
	Pirates						421	0.3	1.6
	DM						247	0.2
	Gesundheitsforschung						199	0.1
	V-Partei³						191	0.1
	DiB						153	0.1
	BGE						150	0.1
	MLPD						51	0.0	0.0
	DKP						17	0.0
	BüSo						10	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,395			1,160
Total valid votes				133,677			133,912
Turnout				135,072	79.0	8.1
	CSU hold		Majority	52,611	39.3	5.2

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Kulmbach[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	%	±%
	CSU	Emmi Zeulner		68,903	56.9	11.2	63,378	52.3	2.9
	SPD	Simon Moritz		27,587	22.8	8.1	26,030	21.5	4.3
	Greens	Valentin Motschmann		4,845	4.0	0.7	6,396	5.3	1.6
	AfD	Georg Hock		3,829	3.2		4,800	4.0
	Left	Marko Müller		3,616	3.0	2.2	4,392	3.6	2.7
	FW	Philipp Goletz		3,533	2.9		3,476	2.9
	Pirates	Bruno Kramm		2,212	1.8		2,316	1.9	0.1
	NPD	Johannes Hühnlein		2,013	1.7	0.7	2,017	1.7	0.4
	FDP	Stephan Otte		1,996	1.6	2.2	4,513	3.7	7.7
	Human Environment Animal Protection						889	0.7	0.1
	ÖDP	Thomas Karl Müller		1,430	1.2	0.1	856	0.7	0.2
	BP			1,118	0.9		758	0.6	0.2
	REP						554	0.5	0.5
	DIE FRAUEN						307	0.3
	DIE VIOLETTEN						122	0.1	0.0
	Party of Reason						120	0.1
	PRO						105	0.1
	RRP						31	0.0	0.5
	MLPD						28	0.0	0.0
	BüSo						12	0.0	0.1
Informal votes				1,225			1,207
Total valid votes				121,082			121,100
Turnout				122,307	70.9	3.2
	CSU hold		Majority	41,316	34.1	19.3

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Kulmbach[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	%	±%
	CSU	Y Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg		86,658	68.1	8.0	62,880	49.5	2.3
	SPD	Claus Stenglein		18,717	14.7	11.3	21,863	17.2	9.5
	Left	Corinna Croy		6,624	5.2	2.0	8,038	6.3	2.7
	Greens	Hans-Dieter Herold		5,985	4.7	0.8	8,731	6.9	2.2
	FDP	Joachim-Friedrich Unruh		4,885	3.8	0.1	14,520	11.4	3.8
	NPD	Bernd Lorenz		3,027	2.4	0.8	2,682	2.1	0.2
	Pirates						2,332	1.8
	REP						1,215	1.0	0.4
	ÖDP	Tanja Och		1,407	1.1		1,091	0.9
	FAMILIE						1,045	0.8	0.1
	Human Environment Animal Protection						827	0.7
	RRP						659	0.5
	BP						546	0.4	0.1
	PBC						259	0.2	0.1
	DIE VIOLETTEN						185	0.1
	CM						112	0.1
	DVU						59	0.0
	BüSo						48	0.0	0.0
	MLPD						25	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,198			1384
Total valid votes				127,303			127,117
Turnout				128,501	74.1	5.2
	CSU hold		Majority	67,941	53.4	19.3

References

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