Saarlouis (electoral district)

297 Saarlouis
297 Saarlouis
Electoral district; for the Bundestag
	Saarlouis in 2025
State	Saarland
Population	262,400 (2019)
Electorate	203,279 (2021)
Major settlements	Saarlouis; Merzig; Dillingen
Area	893.2 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1957
Party	SPD
Member	Heiko Maas
Elected	2021

Saarlouis 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 297. It is located in western Saarland, comprising the Merzig-Wadern district and most of the district of Saarlouis district.^[1]

Saarlouis was created for the inaugural 1957 federal election after the accession of Saarland to Germany. Since 2021, it has been represented by Heiko Maas of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).^[2]

Geography

Saarlouis is located in western Saarland. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the Merzig-Wadern district and the Saarlouis district excluding the Lebach and Schmelz municipalities.^[1]

History

Saarlouis was created in 1957, then known as Saarlouis – Merzig. It acquired its current name in the 1965 election. In the 1957 and 1961 elections, it was constituency 245 in the numbering system. In the 1965 through 1998 elections, it was number 246. Since the 2002 election, it has been number 297.

Originally, the constituency comprised the Merzig-Wadern district and the Saarlouis district excluding the Ämter of Bous/Saar, Lebach, Schmelz, and Wadgassen. In the 1965 through 1972 elections, it lost the municipality of Schwalbach from the Saarlouis district. In the 1976 through 1998 elections, it acquired a configuration similar to its current borders, but lacking the municipalities of Bous, Ensdorf, Schwalbach, and Wadgassen from the Saarlouis district. It acquired its current borders in the 2002 election.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1957	245	Saarlouis – Merzig	Merzig-Wadern district Saarlouis district (excluding Bous/Saar, Lebach, Schmelz, and Wadgassen Ämter)
1961	245	Saarlouis – Merzig
1965	246	Saarlouis	Merzig-Wadern district Saarlouis district (excluding Schwalbach municipality and Bous/Saar, Lebach, Schmelz, and Wadgassen Ämter)
1969
1972
1976			Merzig-Wadern district Saarlouis district (excluding Bous, Ensdorf, Lebach, Schmelz, Schwalbach, and Wadgassen municipalities)
1980
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	297		Merzig-Wadern district Saarlouis district (excluding Lebach and Schmelz municipalities)
2005
2009
2013
2017
2021
2025

Members

The constituency was first represented by Albert Baldauf of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1957 to 1965, followed by fellow CDU member Josef Schmitt [de] from 1965 to 1976. Hans-Werner Müller [de] of the CDU was then representative from 1976 to 1990. Ottmar Schreiner of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) was elected in 1990 and served until 2009. Peter Altmaier of the CDU was representative from 2009 to 2021. Heiko Maas won the constituency for the SPD in 2021.

	Member	Party	%
1957	Albert Baldauf	CDU	44.4
1961	Albert Baldauf	CDU	58.2
1965	Josef Schmitt [de]	CDU	54.2
1969			53.4
1972			48.6
1976	Hans-Werner Müller [de]	CDU	50.4
1980			47.5
1983			51.2
1987			45.6
1990	Ottmar Schreiner	SPD	50.0
1994			49.0
1998			55.1
2002			50.6
2005			40.4
2009	Peter Altmaier	CDU	37.5
2013			44.5
2017			38.0
2021	Heiko Maas	SPD	36.7

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Saarlouis^[3]^[4]
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	Heiko Maas		57,354	36.7	4.7	56,920	36.4	9.5
	CDU	N Peter Altmaier		43,671	28.0	10.1	38,085	24.4	9.2
	AfD	Carsten Becker		15,111	9.7	0.7	15,651	10.0	0.2
	FDP	Angelika Hießerich-Peter		12,777	8.2	4.3	18,872	12.1	4.4
	Left	Dagmar Ensch-Engel		8,405	5.4	5.5	10,512	6.7	6.2
	Greens	Ute Lessel		7,383	4.7	1.2	–^[5]	–	5.5
	Tierschutzpartei						4,535	2.9	–
	FW	Klaus Hoffmann		4,352	2.8	1.9	3,315	2.1	1.3
	PARTEI	Sam Schröder		3,853	2.5	1.4	2,736	1.8	0.6
	dieBasis	Marc Ensch		2,466	1.6	–	2,221	1.4	–
	Volt						954	0.6	–
	Pirates						860	0.6	0.0
	Team Todenhöfer						599	0.4	–
	ÖDP	Philipp-Noah Groß		751	0.5	–	593	0.4	–
	NPD						350	0.2	0.3
	MLPD						76	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				3,047			2,891
Total valid votes				156,123			156,279
Turnout				159,170	78.3	1.0
	SPD gain from CDU		Majority	13,683	8.7	14.6

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Saarlouis^[6]
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 Peter Altmaier		60,102	38.0	6.4	52,981	33.6	6.4
	SPD	Heiko Maas		50,672	32.1	3.8	42,476	27.0	3.8
	Left	Marilyn Heib		17,142	10.8	3.6	20,320	12.9	3.9
	AfD	Irene Lienshöft		14,224	9.0	4.7	15,506	9.8	4.7
	FDP	Kirsten Cortez de Lobao		6,069	3.8	2.6	12,059	7.7	4.0
	Greens	Markus Tressel		5,532	3.5	0.2	8,598	5.5	0.2
	PARTEI	Michael Kiefer		1,741	1.1		1,751	1.1
	FW	Uwe Andreas Kammer		1,352	0.9		1,243	0.8	0.1
	Pirates	Lea Magdalena Laux		939	0.6	1.8	799	0.5	2.0
	NPD						748	0.5	1.3
	V-Partei³						461	0.3
	PDV	Michael Bienek		242	0.2		201	0.1
	BGE						197	0.1
	DM						185	0.2
	MLPD						80	0.1	0.0
Informal votes				2,415			2,825
Total valid votes				158,015			157,605
Turnout				160,430	77.3	4.4
	CDU hold		Majority	9,430	5.9	3.7

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Saarlouis^[7]
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 Peter Altmaier		66,694	44.5	7.0	60,052	40.1	7.7
	SPD	Reinhold Jost		52,303	34.9	2.0	46,037	30.7	6.5
	Left	Wolfgang Schumacher		10,936	7.3	8.3	13,458	9.0	10.9
	AfD	Heinrich Adams		6,418	4.3		7,645	5.1
	Greens	Markus Tressel		5,577	3.7	1.6	7,873	5.3	1.3
	Pirates	Michael Klein		3,652	2.4		3,739	2.5	1.1
	NPD	Frank Franz		2,475	1.7	0.3	2,610	1.7	0.5
	FDP	Wolfgang Krichel		1,872	1.2	6.2	5,480	3.7	8.9
	FAMILIE						1,653	1.1	0.2
	FW						1,075	0.7
	PRO						237	0.2
	MLPD						71	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				4,360			4,357
Total valid votes				149,927			149,930
Turnout				154,287	72.9	1.3
	CDU hold		Majority	14,391	9.6	5.0

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Saarlouis^[8]
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	Peter Altmaier		58,297	37.5	1.5	50,566	32.4	0.5
	SPD	N Ottmar Schreiner		51,193	32.9	7.5	37,749	24.2	9.0
	Left	Alfred Pfannebecker		24,244	15.6	1.9	31,057	19.9	2.0
	FDP	Sebastian Greiber		11,516	7.4	3.9	19,643	12.6	5.0
	Greens	Claudia Beck		8,342	5.4	2.4	10,194	6.5	1.2
	Pirates						2,188	1.4
	FAMILIE						2,013	1.3	0.4
	NPD	Aloys Lehmler		2,025	1.3	0.4	1,874	1.2	0.5
	RRP						861	0.6
	MLPD						48	0.0	0.1
Informal votes				4,022			3,446
Total valid votes				155,617			156,193
Turnout				159,639	74.3	5.6
	CDU gain from SPD		Majority	7,104	4.6

References

^ ^a ^b "Constituency Saarlouis". Federal Returning Officer.
^ "Results for Saarlouis". Federal Returning Officer.
^ "Ergebnisse Saarlouis". Bundeswahlleiter. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
^ Anderson, Emma (5 August 2021). "German Greens must sit out vote in one state during national election". Politico. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
^ The Greens were disqualified from running on the Saarland state list due to irregularities in the selection of list candidates. See Anderson 2021.
^ Results for Saarlouis
^ Results for Saarlouis
^ Results for Saarlouis

[Area-1] "Constituency Saarlouis". Federal Returning Officer.

[2] "Results for Saarlouis". Federal Returning Officer.

[3] "Ergebnisse Saarlouis". Bundeswahlleiter. Retrieved 27 September 2021.

[greensListDSQ-4] Anderson, Emma (5 August 2021). "German Greens must sit out vote in one state during national election". Politico. Retrieved 27 September 2021.

[5] The Greens were disqualified from running on the Saarland state list due to irregularities in the selection of list candidates. See Anderson 2021.

[6] Results for Saarlouis

[7] Results for Saarlouis

[8] Results for Saarlouis

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v t e Electoral districts of Saarland in the German Bundestag
Current	Saarbrücken Saarlouis St. Wendel Homburg
Obsolete	Saarbrücken II
Other states	Baden-Württemberg Bavaria Berlin Brandenburg‎ Bremen Hamburg‎ Hesse Lower Saxony Mecklenburg-Vorpommern North Rhine-Westphalia‎ Rhineland-Palatinate Saxony‎ Saxony-Anhalt‎ Schleswig-Holstein‎ Thuringia‎
See also	List of Bundestag constituencies Elections in Germany