Saarbrücken (electoral district)

296 Saarbrücken
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Saarbrücken in 2025
State	Saarland
Population	271,400 (2019)
Electorate	192,929 (2021)
Major settlements	Saarbrücken Völklingen Püttlingen
Area	325.7 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1957
Party	SPD
Member	Josephine Ortleb
Elected	2017, 2021

Saarbrücken 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 296. It is located in southern Saarland, comprising most of the district of Regionalverbrand Saarbrücken district.

Saarbrücken was created for the inaugural 1957 federal election after the accession of Saarland to Germany. Since 2017, it has been represented by Josephine Ortleb of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

Geography

Saarbrücken is located in southern Saarland. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the municipalities of Großrosseln, Kleinblittersdorf, Püttlingen, Riegelsberg, Saarbrücken, and Völklingen from the Regionalverbrand Saarbrücken district.

History

Saarbrücken was created in 1957, then known as Saarbrücken-Stadt. In the 1976 through 1998 elections, it was named Saarbrücken I. It acquired its current name in the 2002 election. In the 1957 and 1961 elections, it was constituency 243 in the numbering system. In the 1965 through 1998 elections, it was number 244. Since the 2002 election, it has been number 296.

Originally, the constituency comprised the independent city of Saarbrücken as well as the municipalities of Dudweiler and the Ämter of Brebach, Kleinblittersdorf, and Riegelsberg from the Landkreis Saarbrücken district. In the 1976 through 1998 elections, it comprised the municipalities of Saarbrücken and Kleinblittersdorf from the Saarbrücken district. It acquired its current borders in the 2002 election.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1957	243	Saarbrücken-Stadt	Saarbrücken city Landkreis Saarbrücken district (only Dudweiler municipality and Brebach, Kleinblittersdorf, and Riegelsberg Ämter)
1961
1965	244
1969
1972
1976		Saarbrücken I	Saarbrücken district (only Saarbrücken and Kleinblittersdorf municipalities)
1980
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	296	Saarbrücken	Regionalverbrand Saarbrücken district (only Großrosseln, Kleinblittersdorf, Püttlingen, Riegelsberg, Saarbrücken, and Völklingen municipalities)
2005
2009
2013
2017
2021
2025

Members

The constituency has been held by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) during all but four Bundestag terms since its creation. It was first represented by Heinrich Schneider of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) from 1957 to 1961, followed by Eugen Huthmacher of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1961 to 1965. Rudolf Hussong of the SPD won it in 1965 and served one term before being succeeded by Günter Slotta from 1969 to 1976. Hajo Hoffmann was representative from 1976 to 1987, followed by Margit Conrad from 1987 to 1990. Oskar Lafontaine was elected in 1990, but did not accept his mandate at that time; he was re-elected in 1994 and 1998. Elke Ferner was representative from 2002 to 2009, when the constituency was won by Anette Hübinger of the CDU. She was re-elected in 2013. Josephine Ortleb regained the constituency for the SPD in 2017.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1957	Heinrich Schneider	FDP	32.3
	1961	Eugen Huthmacher	CDU	38.6
	1965	Rudolf Hussong	SPD	42.0
	1969	Günter Slotta	SPD	47.0
	1972			54.9
	1976	Hajo Hoffmann	SPD	48.8
	1980			53.4
	1983			49.8
	1987	Margit Conrad	SPD	47.7
	1990	Oskar Lafontaine	SPD	55.5
	1994			51.9
	1998			56.4
	2002	Elke Ferner	SPD	51.8
	2005			33.5
	2009	Anette Hübinger	CDU	31.8
	2013			36.9
	2017	Josephine Ortleb	SPD	32.1
	2021			36.9

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Saarbrücken
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 Josephine Ortleb		51,749	36.9	4.7	53,537	38.1	11.8
	CDU	Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer		35,252	25.1	6.3	28,797	20.5	8.0
	AfD	Boris Huebner		12,569	9.0	0.0	13,006	9.3	0.4
	FDP	Helmut Isringhaus		11,647	8.3	3.0	16,438	11.7	3.6
	Green	Gerhard Wenz		11,143	7.9	1.9
	Left	Mark Baumeister		8,711	6.2	7.1	13,484	9.6	5.3
	Tierschutzpartei						3,843	2.7
	PARTEI	Lukas Matheis		3,439	2.4		2,764	2.0	0.4
	FW	Hans Peter Pflug		2,604	1.9	0.8	2,191	1.6	0.8
	dieBasis	Steffi Richter		2,179	1.5		1,923	1.4
	Volt						1,525	1.1
	Pirates						1,009	0.7	0.1
	Team Todenhöfer						748	0.5
	ÖDP	Nico Herrmann		605	0.4		698	0.5
	NPD						370	0.3	0.4
	Independent	Stephan Poss		299	0.2
	MLPD	Rolf Tickert		201	0.1	0.1	141	0.1	0.0
Informal votes				2,299			2,223
Total valid votes				140,398			140,474
Turnout				142,697	74.0	0.1
	SPD hold		Majority	16,497	11.8	11.0

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Saarbrücken
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	Josephine Ortleb		46,688	32.1	4.0	38,322	26.4	4.7
	CDU	Bernd Wegner		45,664	31.4	5.5	41,394	28.5	4.9
	Left	Gabriele Ungers		19,262	13.3	2.3	21,669	14.9	3.2
	AfD	Wilhelm Müller		12,950	8.9	4.8	14,042	9.7	4.9
	Greens	Patrick Ginsbach		8,782	6.0	0.7	11,748	8.1	0.2
	FDP	Roland König		7,672	5.3	3.5	11,753	8.1	4.6
	PARTEI						2,332	1.6
	FW	Friedemann Klein		1,592	1.1		1,048	0.7	0.1
	Pirates	Klaus Schummer		1,386	1.0	1.9	842	0.6	2.4
	NPD	Frank Franz		947	0.7	1.2	933	0.6	1.2
	V-Partei³						453	0.3
	BGE						416	0.3
	DM						226	0.2
	MLPD	Rolf Tickert		355	0.2	0.1	165	0.1	0.0
	PDV						87	0.1
Informal votes				2,304			2,172
Total valid votes				145,298			145,430
Turnout				147,602	73.8	4.3
	SPD gain from CDU		Majority	1,024	0.7

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Saarbrücken
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 Anette Hübinger		51,324	36.9	5.1	46,513	33.4	6.9
	SPD	Elke Ferner		50,286	36.2	5.8	43,329	31.1	7.2
	Left	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch		15,202	10.9	11.2	16,268	11.7	12.3
	Greens	Barbara Meyer		7,422	5.3	1.4	10,910	7.8	0.9
	AfD	Rudolf Müller		5,686	4.1		6,575	4.7
	Pirates	Marc Großjean		3,904	2.8		4,110	2.9	1.2
	NPD	Peter Marx		2,550	1.8	0.5	2,582	1.9	0.7
	FDP	Roland König		2,410	1.7	5.6	6,246	4.5	7.7
	FAMILIE						1,560	1.1	0.0
	FW						849	0.6
	PRO						233	0.2
	MLPD	Dietrich Schwang		267	0.2	0.0	160	0.1	0.0
Informal votes				3,349			3,065
Total valid votes				139,051			139,335
Turnout				142,400	69.5	1.3
	CDU hold		Majority	1,038	0.7	0.7

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Saarbrücken
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	Anette Hübinger		45,748	31.8	2.0	38,317	26.5	0.0
	SPD	N Elke Ferner		43,737	30.4	3.2	34,528	23.9	8.5
	Left	Volker Schneider		31,946	22.2	4.0	34,666	24.0	3.1
	FDP	Roland König		10,597	7.4	4.0	17,651	12.2	4.3
	Greens	Karin Burkart		9,696	6.7	3.2	12,685	8.8	0.9
	Pirates						2,536	1.8
	NPD	Peter Marx		1,967	1.4	0.2	1,737	1.2	0.6
	FAMILIE						1,596	1.1	0.5
	RRP						752	0.5
	MLPD	Reiner Aulenbacher		323	0.2	0.1	112	0.1	0.1
Informal votes				2,699			2,133
Total valid votes				144,014			144,580
Turnout				146,713	70.8	6.1
	CDU gain from SPD		Majority	2,011	1.4