Bayreuth (electoral district)

236 Bayreuth
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Bayreuth in 2025
State	Bavaria
Population	206,600 (2019)
Electorate	162,430 (2021)
Major settlements	Bayreuth Pegnitz Pottenstein
Area	1,648.0 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	CSU
Member	Silke Launert
Elected	2017, 2021

Bayreuth 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 236. It is located in northern Bavaria, comprising the city of Bayreuth, the Landkreis Bayreuth district, and the eastern part of the Forchheim district.

Bayreuth was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2017, it has been represented by Silke Launert of the Christian Social Union (CSU).

Geography

Bayreuth is located in northern Bavaria. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the independent city of Bayreuth, the Landkreis Bayreuth district, and the municipalities of Egloffstein, Gößweinstein, Obertrubach, Pretzfeld, and Wiesenttal and Verwaltungsgemeinschaften of Ebermannstadt and Gräfenberg from the Forchheim district.

History

Bayreuth was created in 1949. In the 1949 election, it was Bavaria constituency 25 in the numbering system. In the 1953 through 1961 elections, it was number 220. In the 1965 through 1998 elections, it was number 223. In the 2002 and 2005 elections, it was number 238. In the 2009 through 2021 elections, it was number 237. From the 2025 election, it has been number 236.

Originally, the constituency comprised the independent cities of Bayreuth and Marktredwitz and the districts of Landkreis Bayreuth and Wunsiedel. In the 1965 through 1972 elections, it also contained the Pegnitz district. In the 1976 through 1998 elections, it comprised the city of Bayreuth and Landkreis Bayreuth district. It acquired its current borders in the 2002 election.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	25	Bayreuth	Bayreuth city Marktredwitz city Landkreis Bayreuth district Wunsiedel district
1953	220
1957
1961
1965	223		Bayreuth city Marktredwitz city Landkreis Bayreuth district Wunsiedel district Pegnitz district
1969
1972
1976			Bayreuth city Landkreis Bayreuth district
1980
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	238		Bayreuth city Landkreis Bayreuth district Forchheim district (only Egloffstein, Gößweinstein, Obertrubach, Pretzfeld, and Wiesenttal municipalities and Ebermannstadt and Gräfenberg Verwaltungsgemeinschaften)
2005
2009	237
2013
2017
2021
2025	236

Members

The constituency was first represented by Matthäus Herrmann of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 1949 to 1953, followed by fellow SPD member Herbert Hauffe from 1953 to 1957. Albrecht Schlee of the Christian Social Union (CSU) won it in 1957, but former member Hauffe regained it for the SPD in 1961. Former member Schlee was then elected in 1965 and 1969. Richard Müller of the SPD was elected in 1972 and served a single term. Heinz Starke of the CSU was representative from 1976 to 1980, followed by Ortwin Lowack from 1980 to 1994. Hartmut Koschyk of the CSU then served from 1994 to 2017. Silke Launert of the CSU was elected in 2017 and re-elected in 2021.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	Matthäus Herrmann	SPD	39.7
	1953	Herbert Hauffe	SPD	40.0
	1957	Albrecht Schlee	CSU	43.7
	1961	Herbert Hauffe	SPD	43.1
	1965	Albrecht Schlee	CSU	48.0
	1969			46.4
	1972	Richard Müller	SPD	48.6
	1976	Heinz Starke	CSU	55.1
	1980	Ortwin Lowack	CSU	55.6
	1983			61.6
	1987			57.3
	1990			54.9
	1994	Hartmut Koschyk	CSU	46.0
	1998			50.6
	2002			60.7
	2005			56.1
	2009			50.9
	2013			55.9
	2017	Silke Launert	CSU	46.5
	2021			42.4

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Bayreuth
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	%	±%
	CSU	Y Silke Launert		54,465	42.4	4.1	43,768	34.1	7.9
	SPD	Anette Kramme		24,840	19.4	1.9	26,584	20.7	2.3
	Greens	Susanne Bauer		14,064	11.0	3.9	15,647	12.2	4.3
	AfD	Tobias Peterka		10,777	8.4	1.0	11,636	9.1	1.7
	FDP	Thomas Hacker		9,182	7.2	0.5	12,020	9.4	0.4
	FW	Corey Dressendörfer		7,754	6.0	2.5	8,857	6.9	4.2
	Left	Sven Schröder		2,577	2.0	2.3	3,294	2.6	3.0
	dieBasis	Markus Engel		2,028	1.6		1,642	1.3
	Tierschutzpartei						1,306	1.0	0.2
	PARTEI	Florens Weiß		1,709	1.3	0.0	988	0.8	0.2
	ÖDP	Dominic Hopp		934	0.7		516	0.4	0.0
	Pirates						368	0.3	0.0
	Volt						321	0.3
	BP						269	0.2	0.1
	Team Todenhöfer						241	0.2
	Unabhängige						210	0.2
	Gesundheitsforschung						166	0.1	0.0
	Bündnis C						142	0.1
	Humanists						131	0.1
	V-Partei3						120	0.1	0.2
	NPD						101	0.1	0.2
	The III. Path						82	0.1
	du.						71	0.1
	LKR						19	0.0
	DKP						18	0.0	0.0
	MLPD						13	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				806			606
Total valid votes				128,330			128,530
Turnout				129,136	79.5	1.9
	CSU hold		Majority	29,625	23.0	2.2

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Bayreuth
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	%	±%
	CSU	Silke Launert		58,665	46.5	9.4	53,063	41.9	7.6
	SPD	Anette Kramme		26,785	21.2	4.4	23,198	18.3	4.9
	AfD	Tobias Peterka		11,845	9.4	6.3	13,566	10.7	6.9
	Greens	Susanne Bauer		8,936	7.1	0.8	9,994	7.9	1.1
	FDP	Thomas Hacker		8,368	6.6	3.9	11,369	9.0	4.2
	Left	Sebastian Sommerer		5,476	4.3	1.5	7,022	5.5	2.3
	FW	Thomas Mainusch		4,434	3.5		3,441	2.7	0.4
	PARTEI	Wolfgang Karl		1,662	1.3		1,194	0.9
	Tierschutzpartei						1,015	0.8	0.1
	ÖDP						532	0.4	0.1
	NPD						386	0.3	0.7
	Pirates						373	0.3	1.6
	BP						347	0.3	0.1
	V-Partei³						318	0.3
	Gesundheitsforschung						189	0.1
	DM						177	0.1
	DiB						156	0.1
	BGE						138	0.1
	MLPD						24	0.0	0.0
	DKP						15	0.0
	BüSo						12	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,051			693
Total valid votes				126,171			126,529
Turnout				127,222	77.6	7.4
	CSU hold		Majority	31,880	25.3	5.0

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Bayreuth
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	%	±%
	CSU	Y Hartmut Koschyk		63,936	55.9	5.0	56,846	49.5	5.6
	SPD	Anette Kramme		29,344	25.6	4.9	26,676	23.2	4.3
	Greens	Sabine Steininger		7,189	6.3	5.0	7,803	6.8	2.6
	AfD	Tobias Matthias Peterka		3,569	3.1		4,435	3.9
	Left	Tilmann Schiel		3,246	2.8	2.6	3,783	3.3	2.6
	FDP	Hermann Hiery		3,133	2.7	5.8	5,539	4.8	9.0
	FW						3,524	3.1
	Pirates	Dirk-Gernot Marky		2,663	2.3		2,192	1.9	0.2
	NPD	Harald Bestehorn		1,392	1.2	0.3	1,104	1.0	0.4
	Tierschutzpartei						796	0.7	0.1
	ÖDP						556	0.5	0.0
	REP						530	0.5	0.8
	BP						398	0.3	0.0
	DIE FRAUEN						245	0.2
	DIE VIOLETTEN						112	0.1	0.1
	Party of Reason						111	0.1
	PRO						70	0.1
	RRP						44	0.0	0.5
	MLPD						24	0.0	0.0
	BüSo						16	0.0	0.1
Informal votes				1,187			855
Total valid votes				114,472			114,804
Turnout				115,659	70.2	1.2
	CSU hold		Majority	34,592	30.3	0.1

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Bayreuth
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	%	±%
	CSU	Y Hartmut Koschyk		58,848	50.9	5.2	51,124	44.0	4.1
	SPD	Anette Kramme		23,920	20.7	8.1	22,018	18.9	9.5
	Greens	Gert Lowack		13,096	11.3	7.1	10,937	9.4	3.3
	FDP	Philipp Irmscher		9,898	8.6	3.3	16,066	13.8	4.7
	Left	Georg Böhner		6,318	5.5	2.5	6,865	5.9	2.5
	Pirates						2,401	2.1
	REP	Franz Noffke		1,855	1.6		1,520	1.3	0.3
	NPD	Kai Limmer		1,701	1.5	0.4	1,593	1.4	0.0
	FAMILIE						818	0.7	0.2
	Tierschutzpartei						690	0.6
	ÖDP						595	0.5
	RRP						570	0.5
	BP						414	0.4	0.2
	PBC						293	0.3	0.2
	DIE VIOLETTEN						181	0.2
	CM						131	0.1
	DVU						50	0.0
	BüSo						30	0.0	0.0
	MLPD						20	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,654			974
Total valid votes				115,636			116,316
Turnout				117,290	71.4	6.2
	CSU hold		Majority	34,928	30.2	2.9