Braunschweig (electoral district)

50 Braunschweig
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Braunschweig in 2025
State	Lower Saxony
Population	249,400 (2019)
Electorate	187,721 (2021)
Major settlements	Braunschweig
Area	192.7 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	SPD
Member	Christos Pantazis
Elected	2021

Braunschweig 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 50. It is located in southeastern Lower Saxony, comprising the city of Braunschweig.

Braunschweig was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2021, it has been represented by Christos Pantazis of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

Geography

Braunschweig is located in southeastern Lower Saxony. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the independent city of Braunschweig.

History

Braunschweig was created in 1949, then known as Stadt Braunschweig. It acquired its current name in the 1965 election. In the inaugural Bundestag election, it was Lower Saxony constituency 28 in the numbering system. From 1953 through 1961, it was number 50. From 1965 through 1998, it was number 45. In the 2002 and 2005 elections, it was number 50. In the 2009 election, it was number 51. Since the 2013 election, it has been number 50. Its borders have not changed since its creation.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	28	Stadt Braunschweig	Braunschweig city
1953	50
1957
1961
1965	45	Braunschweig
1969
1972
1976
1980
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	50
2005
2009	51
2013	50
2017
2021
2025

Members

The constituency was first held by Otto Arnholz of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), who served from 1949 to 1957. Hermann Koch of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won in 1957 and served a single term. Walter Schmidt of the SPD then served from 1961 to 1972, followed by Hermann Oetting for a single term. Klaus-Dieter Kühbacher was elected in 1976 and served two terms. In 1983, Joachim Clemens of the CDU was elected representative, and served until 1994. Leyla Onur regained the constituency for the SPD in 1994, and was re-elected in 1998. Carola Reimann won in 2002, and was re-elected in 2005, 2009, 2013, and 2017. She resigned in November 2017 after being appointed to the state government of Lower Saxony. Christos Pantazis of the SPD was elected in 2021.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	Otto Arnholz	SPD	39.9
	1953			37.1
	1957	Hermann Koch	CDU	42.0
	1961	Walter Schmidt	SPD	45.2
	1965			47.0
	1969			54.1
	1972	Hermann Oetting	SPD	58.6
	1976	Klaus-Dieter Kühbacher	SPD	51.0
	1980			51.5
	1983	Joachim Clemens	CDU	46.7
	1987			43.8
	1990			44.3
	1994	Leyla Onur	SPD	44.6
	1998			55.8
	2002	Carola Reimann	SPD	54.1
	2005			51.5
	2009			38.7
	2013			43.6
	2017			38.0
	2021	Christos Pantazis	SPD	36.7

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Braunschweig
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	Christos Pantazis		51,220	36.7	1.3	42,377	30.4	4.0
	CDU	Carsten Müller		31,276	22.4	8.9	25,929	18.6	10.4
	Greens	Margaux Erdmann		28,214	20.2	12.2	33,401	24.0	12.2
	FDP	Anikó Merten		9,816	7.0	1.7	14,046	10.1	0.1
	AfD	Frank Weber		8,045	5.8	2.0	8,238	5.9	2.5
	Left	Alper Özgür		5,352	3.8	3.8	6,355	4.6	4.8
	PARTEI						1,652	1.2	0.7
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,567	1.1	0.2
	dieBasis	Christoph Bedürftig		1,640	1.2		1,444	1.0
	Independent	Peter Rosenbaum		1,359	1.0
	Volt						1,012	0.7
	FW	Eike Jankun		1,194	0.9		844	0.6	0.3
	Pirates						785	0.6	0.1
	Team Todenhöfer						675	0.5
	V-Partei3	Anna Saskia Wolters		630	0.5		280	0.2	0.0
	Independent	Andreas Wolter		212	0.2
	Humanists						189	0.1
	ÖDP	Klaus Joachim Arndt		352	0.3		180	0.1	0.0
	NPD						101	0.1	0.1
	du.						81	0.1
	MLPD	Philipp Schwartz		101	0.1	0.2	52	0.0	0.1
	LKR	Christian Helck		80	0.1		53	0.0
	Independent	Erdmann Gust		62	0.0
	DKP						33	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,254			1,513
Total valid votes				139,553			139,294
Turnout				140,807	75.0	1.9
	SPD hold		Majority	19,944	14.3	7.7

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Braunschweig
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 Carola Reimann		55,641	38.0	5.6	38,695	26.4	7.2
	CDU	Carsten Müller		45,881	31.4	3.6	42,534	29.0	5.0
	Greens	Juliane Krause		11,761	8.0	0.9	17,295	11.8	0.6
	AfD	Mirco Hanker		11,377	7.8	5.0	12,268	8.4	4.8
	Left	Cihane Gürtas-Yildirim		11,145	7.6	2.6	13,673	9.3	2.6
	FDP	Ingo Schramm		7,877	5.4	3.1	14,684	10.0	5.6
	PARTEI						2,698	1.8
	Independent	Peter Rosenbaum		2,324	1.6
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,423	1.0	0.1
	Pirates						905	0.6	2.3
	FW						413	0.3	0.2
	BGE						394	0.3
	DiB						390	0.3
	NPD						308	0.2	0.5
	DM						298	0.2
	V-Partei³						296	0.2
	ÖDP						223	0.2
	MLPD	Paul Deutsch		344	0.2		130	0.1	0.0
	DKP						30	0.0
Informal votes				1,362			1,055
Total valid votes				146,350			146,657
Turnout				147,712	76.9	2.7
	SPD hold		Majority	9,760	6.6	2.0

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Braunschweig
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 Carola Reimann		61,952	43.6	4.8	47,741	33.6	4.8
	CDU	Carsten Müller		49,710	35.0	0.6	48,419	34.0	5.0
	Greens	Gesche Hand		10,117	7.1	1.6	17,614	12.4	1.9
	Left	André Patrick Fricke		7,119	5.0	2.8	9,527	6.7	3.2
	Pirates	Jens-Wolfhard Schicke-Uffmann		4,012	2.8	0.2	4,169	2.9	0.7
	AfD	Klaus Harig		3,894	2.7		5,092	3.6
	FDP	Florian Bernschneider		3,243	2.3	3.1	6,214	4.4	7.1
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,295	0.9	0.1
	NPD	Eckhard Aden		1,032	0.7	0.2	1,038	0.7	0.2
	FW	Stefan Roßmann		908	0.6		724	0.5
	PBC						128	0.1
	PRO						127	0.1
	MLPD	Paul Deutsch		116	0.1	0.0	100	0.1	0.0
	REP						97	0.1
Informal votes				1,649			1,467
Total valid votes				142,103			142,285
Turnout				143,752	74.2	0.5
	SPD hold		Majority	12,242	8.6	4.4

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Braunschweig
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 Carola Reimann		53,572	38.8	12.7	39,774	28.7	15.7
	CDU	Carsten Müller		47,584	34.4	0.9	40,135	29.0	0.1
	Greens	Helmut Blöcker		12,012	8.7	4.1	19,831	14.3	4.4
	Left	Thomas Röver		10,801	7.8	3.4	13,763	9.9	4.4
	FDP	Florian Bernschneider		7,507	5.4	2.4	15,845	11.4	3.0
	Pirates	Jens-Wolfhard Schicke		4,214	3.0		4,962	3.6
	NPD	Andreas Wolf		1,310	0.9	0.1	1,324	1.0	0.1
	RRP						1,270	0.9
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,114	0.8	0.1
	Independent	Frank Thomas		802	0.6
	Independent	Horst Dauter		294	0.2
	ÖDP						184	0.1
	DVU						134	0.1
	MLPD	Paul Deutsch		118	0.1	0.1	77	0.1	0.0
Informal votes				1,736			1,535
Total valid votes				138,212			138,413
Turnout				139,948	73.7	4.8
	SPD hold		Majority	5,988	4.3	11.9