Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen – Sonneberg

Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen – Sonneberg 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 195. It is located in southwestern Thuringia, comprising the city of Suhl and the districts of Hildburghausen, Schmalkalden-Meiningen, and Sonneberg.^[1] The constituency is almost exactly coterminous with the Bezirk Suhl of East Germany.

195 Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen – Sonneberg
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen – Sonneberg in 2025
State	Thuringia
Population	282,600 (2019)
Electorate	230,071 (2021)
Major settlements	Suhl Meiningen Sonneberg
Area	2,792.1 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1990
Party	SPD
Member	Frank Ullrich
Elected	2021

Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen – Sonneberg was created for the inaugural 1990 federal election after German reunification. Since 2021, it has been represented by Frank Ullrich of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).^[2]

Geography

Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen – Sonneberg is located in southwestern Thuringia. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the independent city of Suhl and the districts of Hildburghausen, Schmalkalden-Meiningen, and Sonneberg.^[1]

History

Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen – Sonneberg was created after German reunification in 1990, then known as Suhl – Schmalkalden – Ilmenau – Neuhaus. In the 2002 through 2013 elections, it was named Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen. It acquired its current name in the 2017 election. In the 1990 through 1998 elections, it was constituency 307 in the numbering system. In the 2002 election, it was number 199. In the 2005 election, it was number 198. In the 2009 and 2013 elections, it was number 197. In the 2017 and 2021 elections, it was number 196. From the 2025 election, it has been number 195.

Originally, the constituency comprised the city of Suhl and the districts of Landkreis Suhl, Schmalkalden, Ilmenau, and Neuhaus. In a 1994 district reform, most of these districts were merged. From 2002 through 2013, it comprised the city of Suhl and the new districts of Schmalkalden-Meiningen and Hildburghausen. It acquired its current borders in the 2017 election, adding the small southern district of Sonneberg.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1990	307	Suhl – Schmalkalden – Ilmenau – Neuhaus	Suhl city Landkreis Suhl district Schmalkalden district Ilmenau district Neuhaus district
1994
1998
2002	199	Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen	Suhl city Hildburghausen district Schmalkalden-Meiningen district
2005	198
2009	197
2013
2017	196	Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen – Sonneberg	Suhl city Hildburghausen district Schmalkalden-Meiningen district Sonneberg district
2021
2025	195

Members

The constituency was first represented by Claudia Nolte of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1990 to 1998. Iris Gleicke of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) was representative from 1998 to 2009. Jens Petermann of The Left was elected in 2009 and served a single term. Mark Hauptmann of the CDU was elected in 2013 and re-elected in 2017. Frank Ullrich won the constituency for the SPD in 2021. Ullrich's win was widely watched, as he beat controversial former Office for the Protection of the Constitution President Hans-Georg Maaßen.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1990	Claudia Nolte	CDU	42.6
	1994			44.9
	1998	Iris Gleicke	SPD	33.6
	2002			35.6
	2005			30.4
	2009	Jens Petermann	LINKE	32.2
	2013	Mark Hauptmann	CDU	42.0
	2017			33.6
	2021	Frank Ullrich	SPD	33.6

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen – Sonneberg[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	Frank Ullrich		56,791	33.6	20.1	42,446	25.1	11.5
	CDU	Hans-Georg Maaßen		37,729	22.3	11.2	27,923	16.5	13.8
	AfD	Jürgen Treutler		35,887	21.2	1.7	44,572	26.4	3.3
	Left	Sandro Witt		14,135	8.4	9.8	18,486	10.9	6.0
	FDP	Gerald Ullrich		10,686	6.3	1.5	13,990	8.3	1.5
	FW	Detlef Pappe		4,898	2.9	0.6	4,247	2.5	0.8
	Greens	Stephanie Erben		3,615	2.1	0.5	7,221	4.3	1.0
	dieBasis						2,508	1.5
	Human Environment Animal Protection						2,232	1.3
	PARTEI	Christian Fichtner		2,247	1.3		1,859	1.1	0.1
	Pirates	Christian Horn		1,313	0.8	0.1	1,078	0.6	0.2
	ÖDP	Stefan Schellenberg		848	0.5	0.6	547	0.3	0.3
	NPD						496	0.3	0.8
	Menschliche Welt						416	0.2
	MLPD	Andreas Eifler		443	0.3	0.1	353	0.2	0.0
	Independent	Marko Bieling		371	0.2
	Volt						264	0.2
	Team Todenhöfer						231	0.1
	Humanists						136	0.1
	V-Partei3						120	0.1	0.1
Informal votes				2,146			1,983
Total valid votes				168,962			169,125
Turnout				171,108	74.4	1.8
	SPD gain from CDU		Majority	19,062	11.3

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen – Sonneberg[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 Mark Hauptmann		56,316	33.5	8.3	50,956	30.3	9.1
	AfD	Torsten Ludwig		38,351	22.8		38,693	23.0	17.9
	Left	Steffen Harzer		30,646	18.3	9.3	28,467	16.9	8.3
	SPD	Christoph Zimmermann		22,579	13.5	4.9	22,826	13.6	2.8
	FDP	Gerald Ullrich		8,147	4.9	3.4	11,298	6.7	4.3
	Greens	Roberto Kobelt		4,408	2.6	0.3	5,559	3.3	0.5
	FW	Michael Schüler		3,823	2.3	1.0	2,867	1.7	0.3
	PARTEI						2,041	1.2
	NPD						1,835	1.1	2.2
	ÖDP	Martin Truckenbrodt		1,822	1.1		1,029	0.6	0.1
	Pirates	Christian Horn		1,176	0.7	1.5	743	0.4	1.6
	BGE						594	0.4
	DM						511	0.3
	MLPD	Andreas Eifler		604	0.4	0.2	349	0.2	0.0
	V-Partei³						330	0.2
Informal votes				2,365			2,139
Total valid votes				167,872			168,098
Turnout				170,237	72.6	6.4
	CDU hold		Majority	17,965	10.7	4.0

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen[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	Mark Hauptmann		53,979	42.0	11.2	51,060	39.7	9.9
	Left	N Jens Petermann		35,147	27.3	4.8	32,147	25.0	6.7
	SPD	Iris Gleicke		23,519	18.3	2.7	20,968	17.6	1.3
	AfD						6,557	5.1
	NPD	Tobias Kammler		4,772	3.7	0.3	4,048	3.1	0.1
	Greens	Simone Maaß		3,704	2.9	1.7	5,105	4.0	1.3
	Pirates	Bernd Schreiner		3,586	2.8		2,603	2.0	0.4
	FW	Thoralf Quent		2,033	1.6		1,971	1.5
	FDP	Frank Fiedler		1,792	1.4	6.6	3,113	2.4	7.0
	ÖDP						665	0.5	0.2
	REP						303	0.2	0.2
	MLPD						154	0.1	0.0
Informal votes				2,099			1,937
Total valid votes				128,532			128,694
Turnout				130,631	66.6	3.6
	CDU gain from Left		Majority	18,832	14.7

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen[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	%	±%
	Left	Jens Petermann		41,361	32.2	3.3	40,815	31.7	3.9
	CDU	Alexander Kästner		39,600	30.8	3.8	38,338	29.7	5.0
	SPD	N Iris Gleicke		27,055	21.0	9.4	22,682	17.6	12.7
	FDP	Lutz Recknagel		10,313	8.0	2.8	12,118	9.4	1.6
	Greens	Simone Maaß		5,936	4.6	1.4	6,762	5.2	1.3
	NPD	Hendrik Heller		4,380	3.4	0.3	3,941	3.1	0.5
	Pirates						3,109	2.4
	REP						532	0.4	0.4
	ÖDP						414	0.3
	MLPD						185	0.1	0.3
Informal votes				1,857			1,606
Total valid votes				128,645			128,896
Turnout				130,502	63.0	11.0
	Left gain from SPD		Majority	1,761	1.4

References

1. "Constituency Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen – Sonneberg". Federal Returning Officer.
2. "Results for Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen – Sonneberg". Federal Returning Officer.
3. Results for Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen – Sonneberg
4. Results for Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen – Sonneberg
5. Results for Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen
6. Results for Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen