St. Wendel (electoral district)

St. Wendel 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 298. It is located in northeastern Saarland, comprising the Sankt Wendel district, the northern part of the Neunkirchen district, and parts of the Saarlouis and Saarbrücken districts.^[1]

298 St. Wendel
Electoral district for the Bundestag
St. Wendel in 2025
State	Saarland
Population	212,600 (2019)
Electorate	173,074 (2021)
Major settlements	Sankt Wendel Lebach Ottweiler
Area	802.0 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1957
Party	SPD
Member	Christian Petry
Elected	2021

St. Wendel was created for the inaugural 1957 federal election after the accession of Saarland to Germany. Since 2021, it has been represented by Christian Petry of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).^[2]

Geography

St. Wendel is located in northeastern Saarland. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the Sankt Wendel district, the Neunkirchen district excluding the Neunkirchen and Spiesen-Elversberg municipalities, the Lebach and Schmelz municipalities from the Saarlouis district, and the Heusweiler municipality from the Saarbrücken district.^[1]

History

St. Wendel was created in 1957, then known as Ottweiler – St. Wendel. In the 1965 through 1972 elections, it was named Ottweiler. It acquired its current name in the 1976 election. In the 1957 and 1961 elections, it was constituency 246 in the numbering system. In the 1965 through 1998 elections, it was number 247. Since the 2002 election, it has been number 298.

Originally, the constituency comprised the district of Sankt Wendel, the municipalities of Eppelborn, Illingen, Merchweiler, Ottweiler, and Schiffweiler from the Ottweiler district, and the Ämter of Lebach and Schmelz from the Saarlouis district. In the 1976 election, it acquired a configuration very similar to its current borders, but excluding the municipality of Heusweiler from the Saarbrücken district. It acquired its current borders in the 2002 election.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1957	246	Ottweiler – St. Wendel	Sankt Wendel district Ottweiler district (only Eppelborn, Illingen, Merchweiler, Ottweiler, and Schiffweiler municipalities) Saarlouis district (only Lebach and Schmelz Ämter)
1961
1965	247	Ottweiler
1969
1972
1976		St. Wendel	Sankt Wendel district Neunkirchen district (excluding Neunkirchen and Spiesen-Elversberg municipalities) Saarlouis district (only Lebach and Schmelz municipalities)
1980
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	298		Sankt Wendel district Neunkirchen district (excluding Neunkirchen and Spiesen-Elversberg municipalities) Saarlouis district (only Lebach and Schmelz municipalities) Saarbrücken district (only Heusweiler municipality)
2005
2009
2013
2017
2021
2025

Members

The constituency was first represented by Leo Gottesleben [de] of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1957 to 1972, followed by fellow CDU member Werner Zeyer from 1972 to 1980. Johannes Ganz [de] of the CDU was then representative from 1980 to 1990. Hans-Georg Wagner [de] of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) was elected in 1990 and served until 2005. He was succeeded by fellow SPD member Rainer Tabillion [de] for one term. Nadine Schön of the CDU was representative from 2009 to 2021. Christian Petry won the constituency for the SPD in 2021.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1957	Leo Gottesleben [de]	CDU	39.6
	1961			55.7
	1965			54.0
	1969			51.7
	1972	Werner Zeyer	CDU	48.2
	1976			50.9
	1980	Johannes Ganz [de]	CDU	47.9
	1983			51.5
	1987			48.1
	1990	Hans-Georg Wagner [de]	SPD	48.7
	1994			51.1
	1998			53.1
	2002			47.9
	2005	Rainer Tabillion [de]	SPD	37.8
	2009	Nadine Schön	CDU	40.1
	2013			45.4
	2017			41.8
	2021	Christian Petry	SPD	35.1

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): St. Wendel[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	Christian Petry		48,135	35.1	4.8	51,229	37.4	9.7
	CDU	N Nadine Schön[a]		43,298	32.1	9.7	36,248	26.5	10.1
	AfD	Axel Magar		12,346	9.0	0.6	12,904	9.4	0.3
	FDP	Oliver Luksic		11,354	8.3	3.6	14,916	10.9	4.0
	Left	Rosa Maria Grewenig		5,783	4.2	5.6	7,887	5.8	5.6
	Green	Uta Sullenberger		5,739	4.2	0.8
	Human Environment Animal Protection						3,808	2.8
	FW	Clemens Werle		3,562	2.6	1.0	2,881	2.1	1.2
	PARTEI	Denis Schröder		3,261	2.4		2,276	1.7	0.5
	dieBasis	Hans-Theo Both		2,251	1.6		2,094	1.5
	Pirates						741	0.5	0.1
	Volt						693	0.5
	ÖDP	Andrea Honecker		621	0.5		595	0.4
	Team Todenhöfer						408	0.3
	NPD						293	0.2	0.3
	MLPD						59	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,828			2,776
Total valid votes				136,980			137,032
Turnout				139,808	80.8	1.1
	SPD gain from CDU		Majority	4,207	3.0

2017 election

Federal election (2017): St. Wendel[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 Nadine Schön		57,987	41.8	3.6	50,660	36.5	4.4
	SPD	Christian Petry		42,129	30.4	3.1	38,368	27.7	2.8
	Left	Karl-Peter Scheit		13,584	9.8	2.1	15,686	11.3	2.3
	AfD	Rainer Schorn		11,646	8.4	3.6	12,627	9.1	3.7
	FDP	Oliver Luksic		6,517	4.7	3.0	9,569	6.9	3.5
	Greens	Sören Bund-Becker		4,674	3.4	0.5	6,662	4.8	0.3
	PARTEI						1,632	1.2
	FW	Roman Maurer		2,232	1.6		1,261	0.9	0.3
	Pirates						648	0.5	2.1
	NPD						646	0.5	1.1
	V-Partei³						318	0.2
	DM						222	0.2
	BGE						202	0.1
	PDV						124	0.1
	MLPD						73	0.1	0.0
Informal votes				2,618			2,689
Total valid votes				138,769			138,698
Turnout				141,387	79.7	3.6
	CDU hold		Majority	15,858	11.4	0.5

2013 election

Federal election (2013): St. Wendel[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 Nadine Schön		60,865	45.4	5.3	54,911	40.9	6.3
	SPD	Christian Petry[b]		44,868	33.5	2.6	40,861	30.4	5.0
	Left	Dennis Bard		10,247	7.6	8.9	12,139	9.0	10.1
	AfD	Johannes Trampert		6,365	4.7		7,287	5.4
	Greens	Iris Langguth		3,793	2.8	1.5	6,088	4.5	0.8
	Pirates	Gerd Rainer Weber [de]		3,035	2.3		3,391	2.5	1.2
	FDP	Oliver Luksic		2,221	1.7	5.2	4,514	3.4	7.4
	NPD	Peter Richter		1,975	1.5	0.2	2,062	1.5	0.4
	FAMILIE						1,858	1.4	0.2
	FW						810	0.6
	PDV	Axel Magar		687	0.5
	PRO						214	0.2
	MLPD						58	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				4,041			3,904
Total valid votes				134,056			134,193
Turnout				138,097	76.1	1.2
	CDU hold		Majority	15,997	11.9	2.7

2009 election

Federal election (2009): St. Wendel[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	Nadine Müller		55,727	40.1	2.9	48,373	34.6	1.1
	SPD	N Rainer Tabillion [de]		42,910	30.9	6.9	35,506	25.4	8.1
	Left	Hans-Kurt Hill [de]		22,965	16.5	2.5	26,775	19.2	2.2
	FDP	Oliver Luksic		9,486	6.8	3.1	15,094	10.8	4.0
	Greens	Iris Langguth		6,058	4.4	1.6	7,507	5.4	0.7
	FAMILIE						2,273	1.6	0.6
	Pirates						1,853	1.3
	NPD	Frank Franz		1,835	1.3	0.4	1,629	1.2	0.5
	RRP						664	0.5
	MLPD						42	0.0	0.1
Informal votes				3,814			3,079
Total valid votes				138,981			139,716
Turnout				142,795	77.2	5.1
	CDU gain from SPD		Majority	12,817	9.2

Notes

1. Schön entered the Bundestag on the CDU list after Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer declined her mandate.
2. Petry entered the Bundestag on the SPD list after Reinhold Jost resigned from his seat in January 2014.

References

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