Pirmasens (electoral district)

Pirmasens 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 209. It is located in southern Rhineland-Palatinate, comprising the cities of Pirmasens and Zweibrücken, the Südwestpfalz district, and the southwestern part of the Landkreis Kaiserslautern district.^[1]

209 Pirmasens
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Pirmasens in 2025
State	Rhineland-Palatinate
Population	222,700 (2019)
Electorate	174,093 (2021)
Major settlements	Pirmasens Zweibrücken Landstuhl
Area	1,388.1 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	SPD
Member	Angelika Glöckner
Elected	2021

Pirmasens was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2021, it has been represented by Angelika Glöckner of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).^[2]

Geography

Pirmasens is located in southern Rhineland-Palatinate. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the independent cities of Pirmasens and Zweibrücken, the district of Südwestpfalz, and the Verbandsgemeinden of Bruchmühlbach-Miesau, Landstuhl, and Ramstein-Miesenbach from the Landkreis Kaiserslautern district.^[1]

History

Pirmasens was created in 1949, then known as Zweibrücken. It acquired its current name in the 1965 election. In the 1949 election, it was Rhineland-Palatinate constituency 14 in the numbering system. In the 1953 through 1961 elections, it was number 161. In the 1965 through 1976 elections, it was number 162. In the 1980 through 1998 elections, it was number 160. In the 2002 election, it was number 213. In the 2005 election, it was number 212. In the 2009 and 2013 elections, it was number 211. In the 2017 and 2021 elections, it was number 210. From the 2025 election, it has been number 209.

Originally, the constituency comprised the cities of Pirmasens and Zweibrücken and the districts of Landkreis Pirmasens, Landkreis Zweibrücken, and Bergzabern. In the 1965 and 1969 elections, it comprised the cities of Pirmasens and Zweibrücken and the districts of Landkreis Pirmasens and Landkreis Zweibrücken. In the 1972 through 1998 elections, it comprised the cities of Pirmasens and Zweibrücken and the Landkreis Pirmasens district. It acquired its current borders in the 2002 election.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	14	Zweibrücken	Pirmasens city Zweibrücken city Landkreis Pirmasens district Landkreis Zweibrücken district Bergzabern district
1953	161
1957
1961
1965	162	Pirmasens	Pirmasens city Zweibrücken city Landkreis Pirmasens district Landkreis Zweibrücken district
1969
1972			Pirmasens city Zweibrücken city Landkreis Pirmasens district
1976
1980	160
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	213		Pirmasens city Zweibrücken city Südwestpfalz district Landkreis Kaiserslautern district (only Bruchmühlbach-Miesau, Landstuhl, and Ramstein-Miesenbach Verbandsgemeinden)
2005	212
2009	211
2013
2017	210
2021
2025	209

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 Josef Becker from 1949 to 1972. Werner Marx served from 1972 to 1987, followed by Klaus-Dieter Uelhoff until 1998. Lydia Westrich of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) was elected in 1998 and served a single term. Anita Schäfer was elected in 2002, and re-elected in 2005, 2009, 2013, and 2017. Angelika Glöckner won the constituency for the SPD in 2021.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	Josef Becker	CDU	46.6
	1953			49.0
	1957			52.1
	1961			46.4
	1965			48.6
	1969			47.1
	1972	Werner Marx	CDU	47.2
	1976			51.6
	1980			49.8
	1983			53.8
	1987	Klaus-Dieter Uelhoff	CDU	49.2
	1990			46.3
	1994			44.9
	1998	Lydia Westrich	SPD	45.7
	2002	Anita Schäfer	CDU	45.1
	2005			42.4
	2009			39.4
	2013			45.9
	2017			36.8
	2021	Angelika Glöckner	SPD	30.4

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Pirmasens[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	Angelika Glöckner		39,711	30.4	1.7	38,261	29.3	4.6
	CDU	Florian Bilic		39,236	30.1	6.8	33,507	25.6	10.1
	AfD	Ferdinand L. Weber		16,512	12.7	0.2	17,178	13.1	0.9
	FDP	Erike Watson		9,895	7.6	0.9	14,374	11.0	2.1
	Greens	Susanne Bendig		7,891	6.0	1.8	9,877	7.6	2.9
	FW	Roswitha Jeckel		5,990	4.6	2.0	4,935	3.8	2.0
	Left	Frank Eschrich		3,678	2.8	3.2	4,207	3.2	3.9
	Human Environment Animal Protection	Barbara Schwarz		3,271	2.5		3,325	2.5
	PARTEI	Marc-Oliver Riedinger		1,999	1.5	0.1	1,496	1.1	0.0
	dieBasis	Klaus Dietrich		1,654	1.3		1,584	1.2
	Pirates						489	0.4	0.1
	Volt	Andreas Winkler		466	0.4		425	0.3
	NPD						286	0.2	0.4
	Team Todenhöfer						221	0.2
	Independent	Verena Hofmann		163	0.1
	ÖDP						154	0.1	0.1
	V-Partei3						114	0.1	0.2
	Humanists						105	0.1
	DiB						107	0.1
	LKR						48	0.0
	MLPD						30	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,004			1,747
Total valid votes				130,466			130,723
Turnout				132,470	76.1	0.1
	SPD gain from CDU		Majority	475	0.3

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Pirmasens[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 Anita Schäfer		48,719	36.8	9.0	47,455	35.8	7.9
	SPD	Angelika Glöckner		38,028	28.8	3.5	32,794	24.7	3.2
	AfD	Ferdinand Ludwig Weber		16,989	12.8		18,652	14.1	9.7
	FDP	Sebastian Schäfer		8,846	6.7	3.9	11,803	8.9	3.8
	Left	Brigitte Freihold		8,019	6.1	0.1	9,511	7.2	0.7
	Greens	Felix Schmidt		5,544	4.2	0.1	6,156	4.6	0.1
	FW	Martin Eichert		3,430	2.6	0.3	2,388	1.8	0.2
	PARTEI	Aaron Bastian Schmidt		1,889	1.4		1,573	1.2
	NPD	Markus Walter		771	0.6	1.4	833	0.6	1.1
	Pirates						628	0.5	2.0
	V-Partei³						391	0.3
	ÖDP						264	0.2	0.0
	BGE						223	0.2
	MLPD						45	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,830			2,349
Total valid votes				132,235			132,716
Turnout				135,065	76.0	4.7
	CDU hold		Majority	10,691	8.0	5.7

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Pirmasens[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 Anita Schäfer		57,201	45.9	6.5	54,877	43.7	9.2
	SPD	Angelika Glöckner[a]		40,180	32.2	5.2	35,108	28.0	5.3
	Left	Frank Eschrich		7,486	6.0	6.6	8,172	6.5	6.8
	Greens	Felix Schmidt		5,059	4.1	2.9	5,960	4.7	1.9
	FW	Martin Eichert		3,625	2.9		2,046	1.6
	FDP	Steven Wink		3,446	2.8	8.4	6,344	5.1	10.3
	AfD						5,461	4.3
	Pirates	Birgit Wenzel		3,326	2.7		3,061	2.4	0.4
	NPD	Ricarda Riefling		2,429	1.9	0.9	2,178	1.7	0.2
	REP	Heinz Karl Hinkel		1,916	1.5		1,313	1.0	0.3
	Party of Reason						483	0.4
	PRO						282	0.2
	ÖDP						267	0.2	0.1
	MLPD						42	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				4,085			3,159
Total valid votes				124,668			125,594
Turnout				128,753	71.3	0.2
	CDU hold		Majority	17,021	13.7	1.4

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Pirmasens[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	Y Anita Schäfer		50,035	39.4	3.0	44,143	34.5	2.4
	SPD	Sabine Wilhelm		34,342	27.1	9.5	28,982	22.7	9.7
	Left	Frank Eschrich		15,989	12.6	4.4	16,977	13.3	4.7
	FDP	Heinz-Walter Roth		14,105	11.1	4.9	19,605	15.3	4.7
	Greens	Fred Konrad		8,840	7.0	3.7	8,528	6.7	1.6
	Pirates						2,561	2.0
	NPD	Markus Walter		3,598	2.8	0.4	2,533	2.0	0.2
	FAMILIE						1,945	1.5	0.1
	REP						1,662	1.3	0.8
	ÖDP						391	0.3
	PBC						387	0.3	0.1
	DVU						114	0.1
	MLPD						32	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				4,156			3,205
Total valid votes				126,909			127,860
Turnout				131,065	71.1	6.8
	CDU hold		Majority	15,963	12.3	6.5

Notes

1. Glöckner entered the Bundestag on the SPD list after the resignation of Sabine Bätzing-Lichtenthäler in November 2014.

References

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