Koblenz (electoral district)

198 Koblenz
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Koblenz in 2025
State	Rhineland-Palatinate
Population	259,800 (2019)
Electorate	193,035 (2021)
Major settlements	Koblenz Lahnstein Bendorf
Area	635.8 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	CDU
Member	Josef Oster
Elected	2017, 2021

Koblenz 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 198. It is located in northern Rhineland-Palatinate, comprising the city of Koblenz, the eastern part of the Mayen-Koblenz district, and the western part of the Rhein-Lahn-Kreis district.

Koblenz was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2017, it has been represented by Josef Oster of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Geography

Koblenz is located in northern Rhineland-Palatinate. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the independent city of Koblenz, the municipality of Bendorf and the Verbandsgemeinden of Rhein-Mosel, Vallendar, and Weißenthurm from the Mayen-Koblenz district, and, from the Rhein-Lahn-Kreis district, the municipality of Lahnstein, the Verbandsgemeinde of Loreley, and the municipalities of Arzbach, Bad Ems, Becheln, Dausenau, Fachbach, Frücht, Kemmenau, Miellen, and Nievern from the Bad Ems-Nassau Verbandsgemeinde.

History

Koblenz was created in 1949. In the 1949 election, it was Rhineland-Palatinate constituency 3 in the numbering system. In the 1953 through 1976 elections, it was number 150. In the 1980 through 1998 elections, it was number 148. In the 2002 election, it was number 202. In the 2005 election, it was number 201. In the 2009 and 2013 elections, it was number 200. In the 2017 and 2021 elections, it was number 199. From the 2025 election, it has been number 198.

Originally, the constituency comprised the independent city of Koblenz and the districts of Landkreis Koblenz and Sankt Goar. In the 1972 through 1998 elections, it comprised the city of Koblenz, the municipality of Bendorf and the Verbandsgemeinden of Rhens, Untermosel, Vallendar, and Weißenthurm from the Mayen-Koblenz district, and the municipality of Boppard and the Verbandsgemeinden of Emmelshausen and Sankt Goar-Oberwesel from the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis district. It acquired its current borders in the 2002 election, although in 2014 the Verbandsgemeinde of Rhein-Mosel was created from Rhens and Untermosel, and the Verbandsgemeinde of Loreley absorbed Braubach.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	3	Koblenz	Koblenz city Landkreis Koblenz district Sankt Goar district
1953	150
1957
1961
1965
1969
1972			Koblenz city Mayen-Koblenz district (only Bendorf municipality and Rhens, Untermosel, Vallendar, and Weißenthurm Verbandsgemeinden) Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis district (only Boppard municipality and Emmelshausen and Sankt Goar-Oberwesel Verbandsgemeinden)
1976
1980	148
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	202		Koblenz city Mayen-Koblenz district (only Bendorf municipality and Rhein-Mosel, Vallendar, and Weißenthurm Verbandsgemeinden) Rhein-Lahn-Kreis district (only Lahnstein municipality and Loreley and Bad Ems-Nassau (only Arzbach, Bad Ems, Becheln, Dausenau, Fachbach, Frücht, Kemmenau, Miellen, and Nievern municipalities) Verbandsgemeinden)
2005	201
2009	200
2013
2017	199
2021
2025	198

Members

The constituency has been held continuously by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since its creation. It was first represented by Karl Weber from 1949 to 1965. Egon Klepsch then served from 1965 to 1980. He was succeeded by Roswitha Verhülsdonk, who was representative until 1994. Karl-Heinz Scherhag served from 1994 to 2002. Michael Fuchs was representative from 2002 to 2017. Josef Oster succeeded him in 2017 and was re-elected in 2021.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	Karl Weber	CDU	57.5
	1953			62.1
	1957			61.7
	1961			56.8
	1965	Egon Klepsch	CDU	56.8
	1969			52.1
	1972			49.4
	1976			52.3
	1980	Roswitha Verhülsdonk	CDU	48.4
	1983			54.8
	1987			50.2
	1990			48.8
	1994	Karl-Heinz Scherhag	CDU	50.1
	1998			46.2
	2002	Michael Fuchs	CDU	44.1
	2005			45.4
	2009			44.1
	2013			48.0
	2017	Josef Oster	CDU	41.3
	2021			31.7

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Koblenz
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 Josef Oster		46,073	31.7	9.6	37,958	26.0	11.8
	SPD	Thorsten Rudolf		43,416	29.9	1.2	42,817	29.3	5.5
	Greens	Lena Etzkorn		17,980	12.4	6.2	21,007	14.4	6.5
	FDP	Markus Wieseler		11,179	7.7	1.2	16,371	11.2	0.4
	AfD	Carsten Dittmann		9,753	6.7	1.4	10,426	7.1	2.0
	FW	Kathrin Laymann		7,028	4.8	3.1	4,928	3.4	2.3
	Left	Oliver Antpöhler-Zwiernek		4,054	2.8	2.4	4,804	3.3	3.6
	Tierschutzpartei						1,818	1.2
	PARTEI	Michael Brüggemann		2,354	1.6	0.5	1,401	1.0	0.2
	dieBasis	Mark Schneider		1,758	1.2		1,497	1.0
	Pirates						725	0.5	0.0
	Volt	Roman Snegur		694	0.5		642	0.4
	Team Todenhöfer						598	0.4
	ÖDP	Carolin Schmidt		614	0.4		319	0.2	0.0
	Independent	Alexandra Sayn		409	0.3
	V-Partei3						156	0.1	0.1
	Humanists						137	0.1
	DiB						118	0.1
	NPD						99	0.1	0.1
	LKR						56	0.0
	MLPD						26	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,815			1,224
Total valid votes				145,312			145,903
Turnout				147,127	76.2	0.5
	CDU hold		Majority	2,657	1.8	10.8

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Koblenz
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	Josef Oster		61,594	41.3	6.7	56,616	37.8	7.2
	SPD	Detlev Pilger		42,777	28.7	2.1	35,679	23.8	3.3
	AfD	Thomas Damson		12,153	8.2		13,701	9.2	4.5
	FDP	Florian Glock		9,732	6.5	3.8	16,152	10.8	5.4
	Greens	Patrick Zwiernik		9,273	6.2	1.8	11,862	7.9	0.2
	Left	Ulrich Lenz		7,693	5.2	0.2	10,332	6.9	1.7
	FW	Stefan Scheer		2,623	1.8	0.9	1,627	1.1	0.1
	PARTEI	Andreas Werner Müller		1,723	1.2		1,715	1.1
	Pirates	Marieluise Charlotte Salm		1,058	0.7	2.1	741	0.5	1.7
	Independent	Jan-Peter Babnik		383	0.3
	V-Partei³						370	0.2
	ÖDP						302	0.2	0.0
	NPD						252	0.2	0.5
	BGE						242	0.2
	MLPD						38	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,144			1,524
Total valid votes				149,009			149,629
Turnout				151,153	76.7	4.6
	CDU hold		Majority	18,817	12.6	4.6

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Koblenz
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 Michael Fuchs		67,046	48.0	3.9	63,427	45.0	9.0
	SPD	Detlev Pilger		43,094	30.8	2.8	38,221	27.1	3.3
	Greens	Josef Winkler		11,184	8.0	1.7	10,853	7.7	2.4
	Left	Bettina Lau		6,901	4.9	2.4	7,358	5.2	3.0
	AfD						6,625	4.7
	Pirates	Heiko Müller		3,953	2.8		3,073	2.2	0.2
	FDP	Martin Kaschny		3,772	2.7	6.9	7,595	5.4	12.0
	FW	Stephan Wefelscheid		3,745	2.7		1,714	1.2
	NPD						938	0.7	0.2
	ÖDP						324	0.2	0.0
	PRO						282	0.2
	Party of Reason						248	0.2
	REP						176	0.1	0.2
	MLPD						29	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				3,193			2,025
Total valid votes				139,695			140,863
Turnout				142,888	72.1	1.5
	CDU hold		Majority	23,952	17.2	1.2

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Koblenz
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 Michael Fuchs		59,853	44.1	1.3	49,065	36.0	2.1
	SPD	Ursula Mogg		38,080	28.1	11.2	32,414	23.8	11.3
	Greens	Josef Winkler		13,222	9.7	4.3	13,732	10.1	2.6
	FDP	Markus Falk		13,084	9.6	5.0	23,679	17.4	5.4
	Left	Wolfgang Ferner		9,935	7.3	3.1	11,239	8.2	3.4
	Pirates						2,690	2.0
	NPD	Sven Lobeck		1,483	1.1	0.0	1,188	0.9	0.1
	FAMILIE						1,118	0.8	0.0
	REP						432	0.3	0.1
	ÖDP						324	0.2
	PBC						227	0.2	0.1
	DVU						98	0.1
	MLPD						31	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				3,133			2,553
Total valid votes				135,657			136,237
Turnout				138,790	70.6	6.9
	CDU hold		Majority	21,773	16.0	9.8