Schwalm-Eder

Schwalm-Eder 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 169. It is located in northern Hesse, comprising the Schwalm-Eder-Kreis district and the southern part of the Waldeck-Frankenberg district.

169 Schwalm-Eder
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Schwalm-Eder in 2025
State	Hesse
Population	235,900 (2019)
Electorate	185,944 (2021)
Major settlements	Schwalmstadt Frankenberg Fritzlar
Area	2,263.0 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	SPD
Member	Edgar Franke
Elected	2009, 2013, 2017, 2021

Schwalm-Eder was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2009, it has been represented by Edgar Franke of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

Geography

Schwalm-Eder is located in northern Hesse. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the entirety of the Schwalm-Eder-Kreis district and the municipalities of Allendorf (Eder), Battenberg (Eder), Bromskirchen, Burgwald, Frankenau, Frankenberg, Gemünden (Wohra), Haina, Hatzfeld, Rosenthal, and Vöhl from the Waldeck-Frankenberg district.

History

Schwalm-Eder was created in 1949, then known as Fritzlar-Homberg. In the 1976 election, it was named Fritzlar. It acquired its current name in the 1980 election. In the 1949 election, it was Hesse constituency 4 in the numbering system. In the 1953 through 1976 elections, it was number 129. From 1980 through 1998, it was number 127. In 2002 and 2005, it was number 172. In the 2009 election, it was number 171. In the 2013 through 2021 elections, it was number 170. From the 2025 election, it has been number 169.

Originally, the constituency comprised the districts of Frankenberg, Fritzlar-Homberg, and Ziegenhain. In the 1965 and 1969 elections, it also contained the municipality of Schiffelbach from the Landkreis Marburg district. In the 1972 election, it comprised the districts of Frankenberg and Fritzlar-Homberg, the municipality of Breitenbach am Herzberg from the Hersfeld-Rotenburg district, the municipality of Schiffelbach from the Landkreis Marburg district, and the Ortsteile of Berfa, Hattendorf, and Lingelbach in Alsfeld municipality from the Vogelsbergkreis district. In the 1976 election, it acquired borders similar to its current configuration, but excluding the municipalities of Felsberg, Guxhagen, Körle, Malsfeld, Melsungen, Morschen, and Spangenberg from Schwalm-Eder-Kreis. It acquired its current borders in the 2002 election.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	4	Fritzlar-Homberg	Frankenberg district Fritzlar-Homberg district Ziegenhain district
1953	129
1957
1961
1965			Frankenberg district Fritzlar-Homberg district Ziegenhain district Landkreis Marburg district (only Schiffelbach municipality)
1969
1972			Waldeck district Frankenberg district Fritzlar-Homberg district Hersfeld-Rotenburg district (only Breitenbach am Herzberg municipality) Landkreis Marburg district (only Schiffelbach municipality) Vogelsbergkreis district (only Alsfeld municipality (only Berfa, Hattendorf, and Lingelbach Ortsteile))
1976		Fritzlar	Schwalm-Eder-Kreis district (excluding Felsberg, Guxhagen, Körle, Malsfeld, Melsungen, Morschen, and Spangenberg municipalities) Waldeck-Frankenberg district (only Allendorf (Eder), Battenberg (Eder), Bromskirchen, Burgwald, Frankenau, Frankenberg (Eder), Gemünden (Wohra), Haina (Kloster), Hatzfeld (Eder), Rosenthal, and Vöhl municipalities)
1980	127	Schwalm-Eder
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	172		Schwalm-Eder-Kreis district Waldeck-Frankenberg district (only Allendorf (Eder), Battenberg (Eder), Bromskirchen, Burgwald, Frankenau, Frankenberg (Eder), Gemünden (Wohra), Haina (Kloster), Hatzfeld (Eder), Rosenthal, and Vöhl municipalities)
2005
2009	171
2013	170
2017
2021
2025	169

Members

The constituency has been held by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) during all but three Bundestag terms since its creation. It was first represented by August-Martin Euler of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) from 1949 to 1957, followed by Kurt Wittmer-Eigenbrodt of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) until 1961. Harri Bading of the SPD was elected in 1961 and served two terms. He was succeeded by Heinz Kreutzmann, who served from 1969 to 1983. Albert Pfuhl was then representative from 1983 to 1994, followed by Gerd Höfer until 2009. Edgar Franke was elected in 2009, and re-elected in 2013, 2017, and 2021.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	August-Martin Euler	FDP	35.5
	1953			42.8
	1957	Kurt Wittmer-Eigenbrodt	CDU	37.6
	1961	Harri Bading	SPD	42.6
	1965			45.7
	1969	Heinz Kreutzmann	SPD	48.9
	1972			54.0
	1976			50.5
	1980			52.2
	1983	Albert Pfuhl	SPD	48.1
	1987			49.3
	1990			47.8
	1994	Gerd Höfer	SPD	48.1
	1998			52.3
	2002			52.3
	2005			50.1
	2009	Edgar Franke	SPD	40.3
	2013			42.3
	2017			37.7
	2021			39.3

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Schwalm-Eder
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 Edgar Franke		54,792	39.3	1.7	50,100	36.0	4.6
	CDU	Anna-Maria Bischof		33,443	24.0	6.4	29,913	21.5	7.7
	AfD	Albrecht Glaser		14,380	10.3	1.7	15,047	10.8	2.1
	Greens	Bettina Hoffmann		12,360	8.9	3.3	14,089	10.1	3.5
	FDP	Bastian Belz		12,234	8.8	2.3	15,422	11.1	1.9
	FW	Markus Rainer Lappe		4,112	3.0	0.6	3,440	2.5	1.1
	Left	Heidemarie Scheuch-Paschkewitz		3,761	2.7	2.8	4,411	3.2	3.3
	Tierschutzpartei						1,996	1.4	0.5
	PARTEI	Clara Luisa Baumann		2,024	1.5		1,209	0.9	0.2
	dieBasis	Hermann-Theodor Ploppa		1,451	1.0		1,396	1.0
	Pirates						504	0.4	0.0
	Independent	Alexander Klement		435	0.3
	Team Todenhöfer						270	0.2
	Gesundheitsforschung						251	0.2
	NPD						244	0.2	0.3
	Bündnis C	Alfred Härtzsch		262	0.2		233	0.2
	Volt						215	0.2
	ÖDP						126	0.1	0.0
	Humanists						92	0.1
	V-Partei3						73	0.1	0.1
	Bündnis 21						48	0.0
	DKP						43	0.0	0.0
	LKR						34	0.0
	MLPD						15	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,240			2,323
Total valid votes				139,254			139,171
Turnout				141,494	76.1	1.4
	SPD hold		Majority	21,349	15.3	8.1

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Schwalm-Eder
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 Edgar Franke		53,892	37.7	4.7	44,847	31.4	5.2
	CDU	Bernd Siebert		43,514	30.4	9.2	41,795	29.2	6.4
	AfD	Albrecht Glaser		17,198	12.0		18,504	12.9	7.5
	FDP	Elias Knell		9,298	6.5	4.3	13,118	9.2	4.5
	Greens	Bettina Hoffmann		8,003	5.6	0.2	9,436	6.6	1.1
	Left	Heidemarie Scheuch-Paschkewitz		7,852	5.5	0.5	9,270	6.5	1.0
	FW	Matthias Köhler		3,330	2.3	0.8	1,968	1.4	0.2
	Tierschutzpartei						1,287	0.9
	PARTEI						935	0.7	0.3
	NPD						652	0.5	0.7
	Pirates						519	0.4	1.3
	BGE						180	0.1
	DM						173	0.1
	V-Partei³						161	0.1
	ÖDP						128	0.1
	DKP						33	0.0
	MLPD						26	0.0	0.0
	BüSo						20	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,656			2,691
Total valid votes				143,087			143,052
Turnout				145,743	77.5	3.5
	SPD hold		Majority	10,378	7.3	4.6

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Schwalm-Eder
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 Edgar Franke		57,944	42.3	2.0	50,052	36.5	2.6
	CDU	Bernd Siebert		54,162	39.6	6.0	48,747	35.6	6.6
	Greens	Hermann Häusling		7,884	5.8	0.9	10,498	7.7	1.6
	Left	Heidemarie Scheuch-Paschkewitz		6,890	5.0	3.1	7,442	5.4	3.8
	AfD						7,394	5.4
	FDP	Dennis Majewski		3,005	2.2	7.4	6,362	4.6	9.5
	Pirates	Alexander Kaufmann		2,771	2.0		2,306	1.7	0.0
	FW	Engin Eroglu		2,154	1.6		1,592	1.2
	NPD	Martin Braun		2,019	1.5	0.1	1,532	1.1	0.2
	PARTEI						529	0.4
	REP						229	0.2	0.2
	PRO						162	0.1
	SGP						58	0.0
	BüSo						46	0.0	0.1
	MLPD						32	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				4,836			4,684
Total valid votes				136,829			136,981
Turnout				141,665	74.0	0.2
	SPD hold		Majority	3,782	2.7	4.0

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Schwalm-Eder
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	Edgar Franke		56,519	40.3	9.8	47,585	33.9	11.1
	CDU	Bernd Siebert		47,053	33.6	0.4	40,592	28.9	0.4
	FDP	Nils Weigand		13,487	9.6	4.8	19,854	14.2	4.3
	Left	Heidemarie Scheuch-Paschkewitz		11,395	8.1	3.3	12,958	9.2	3.5
	Greens	Engin Eroglu		9,370	6.7	2.2	12,935	9.2	2.0
	Pirates						2,382	1.7
	NPD	Frank Körner		2,275	1.6	0.1	1,813	1.3	0.2
	Tierschutzpartei						1,256	0.9	0.2
	REP						556	0.4	0.4
	DVU						128	0.1
	BüSo						119	0.1	0.0
	MLPD						37	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				4,391			4,275
Total valid votes				140,099			140,215
Turnout				144,490	74.2	5.6
	SPD hold		Majority	9,466	6.7	9.5