Erlangen (electoral district)

Erlangen 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 241. It is located in northern Bavaria, comprising the city of Erlangen and the district of Erlangen-Höchstadt.

241 Erlangen
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Erlangen in 2025
State	Bavaria
Population	257,100 (2019)
Electorate	187,299 (2021)
Major settlements	Erlangen Herzogenaurach Höchstadt
Area	720.5 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	CSU
Member	Stefan Müller
Elected	2002, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017, 2021

Erlangen was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2002, it has been represented by Stefan Müller of the Christian Social Union (CSU).

Geography

Erlangen is located in northern Bavaria. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the independent city of Erlangen, the district of Erlangen-Höchstadt, and the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft of Uehlfeld from the district of Neustadt (Aisch)-Bad Windsheim.

History

Erlangen was created in 1949. In the 1949 election, it was Bavaria constituency 31 in the numbering system. In the 1953 through 1961 elections, it was number 226. In the 1965 through 1998 elections, it was number 228. In the 2002 and 2005 elections, it was number 243. In the 2009 through 2021 elections, it was number 242. From the 2025 election, it has been number 241.

Originally, the constituency comprised the independent city of Erlangen and the districts of Landkreis Erlangen, Fürth, Neustadt an der Aisch, and Scheinfeld. In the 1965 through 1972 elections, it comprised the city of Erlangen and the districts of Landkreis Erlangen, Landkreis Nürnberg, Hersbruck, and Lauf an der Pegnitz. In the 1976 through 1987 elections, it comprised the city of Erlangen and the districts of Nürnberger Land and Erlangen-Höchstadt excluding the municipalities of Aurachtal and Herzogenaurach. In the 1990 through 2017 elections, it comprised the city of Erlangen and the district of Erlangen-Höchstadt. It acquired its current borders in the 2021 election.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	31	Erlangen	Erlangen city Landkreis Erlangen district Fürth district Neustadt an der Aisch district Scheinfeld district
1953	226
1957
1961
1965	228		Erlangen city Landkreis Erlangen district Landkreis Nürnberg district Hersbruck district Lauf an der Pegnitz district
1969
1972
1976			Erlangen city Nürnberger Land district Erlangen-Höchstadt (excluding Aurachtal and Herzogenaurach municipalities)
1980
1983
1987
1990			Erlangen city Erlangen-Höchstadt district
1994
1998
2002	243
2005
2009	242
2013
2017
2021			Erlangen city Erlangen-Höchstadt district Neustadt (Aisch)-Bad Windsheim district (only Uehlfeld Verwaltungsgemeinschaft)
2025	241

Members

The constituency has been held by the Christian Social Union (CSU) during all but three Bundestag terms since its creation. It was first represented by Willibald Mücke of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 1949 to 1953. Werner Dollinger of the CSU won it in 1953, and served until 1965. Adalbert Hudak of the CSU then served one term. Dieter Haack of the SPD was elected in 1969 and was representative until 1976, when Klaus Hartmann won it for the CSU. He was succeeded in 1987 by Gerhard Friedrich. Stefan Müller was elected in 2002, and re-elected in 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017, and 2021.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	Willibald Mücke	SPD	26.8
	1953	Werner Dollinger	CSU	42.7
	1957			55.5
	1961			51.7
	1965	Adalbert Hudak	CSU	47.2
	1969	Willibald Mücke	SPD	45.5
	1972			51.9
	1976	Klaus Hartmann	CSU	50.1
	1980			47.7
	1983			52.8
	1987	Gerhard Friedrich	CSU	47.5
	1990			47.5
	1994			48.9
	1998			46.0
	2002	Stefan Müller	CSU	49.3
	2005			47.4
	2009			45.1
	2013			48.5
	2017			42.7
	2021			35.1

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Erlangen
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 Stefan Müller		54,223	35.1	7.6	44,664	28.9	6.8
	SPD	Martina Stamm-Fibich		32,036	20.7	0.1	30,146	19.5	2.2
	Greens	Tina Prietz		29,923	19.4	8.4	31,222	20.2	6.9
	AfD	Christian Beßler		10,669	6.9	1.1	10,872	7.0	2.5
	FDP	Ralf Schwab		10,382	6.7	0.8	16,062	10.4	0.3
	FW	Anna-Carina Häußler		7,888	5.1	2.1	7,081	4.6	2.3
	Left						5,817	3.8	3.8
	dieBasis	Torsten Weber		2,619	1.7		2,084	1.3
	Tierschutzpartei						1,370	0.9	0.1
	PARTEI	Stefan Müller		2,578	1.7		1,210	0.8	0.1
	ÖDP	Christian Stadelmann		2,080	1.3	0.4	1,077	0.7	0.2
	Pirates	Jürgen Purzner		1,259	0.8	0.1	676	0.4	0.0
	Volt						529	0.3
	Team Todenhöfer						496	0.3
	Independent	Susanne Henig		366	0.2
	Unabhängige						235	0.2
	Humanists						220	0.1
	BP						202	0.1	0.1
	V-Partei3						175	0.1	0.1
	Gesundheitsforschung						153	0.1	0.0
	Bündnis C						120	0.1
	NPD						102	0.1	0.2
	du.						70	0.0
	The III. Path						61	0.0
	MLPD	Richard Straub		188	0.1		31	0.0	0.0
	Independent	Adam Kunstmann		127	0.1
	Independent	Rüdiger Kalupner		93	0.1
	LKR						19	0.0
	DKP						14	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				946			669
Total valid votes				154,431			154,708
Turnout				155,377	83.0	1.1
	CSU hold		Majority	22,187	14.4	7.6

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Erlangen
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 Stefan Müller		62,767	42.7	5.9	52,414	35.6	6.1
	SPD	Martina Stamm-Fibich		30,965	21.0	5.3	25,578	17.4	7.0
	Greens	Helmut Wening		16,179	11.0	2.1	19,862	13.5	2.0
	AfD	Paul Podolay		11,670	7.9	4.7	13,953	9.5	5.3
	FDP	Britta Dassler		8,713	5.9	3.7	14,973	10.2	4.6
	Left	Anton Salzbrunn		8,633	5.9	1.7	11,115	7.5	3.2
	FW	Christian Enz		4,229	2.9	0.2	3,235	2.2	0.5
	ÖDP	Florian Timo Reinhart		2,650	1.8		1,266	0.9	0.0
	PARTEI						1,254	0.9
	Tierschutzpartei						1,167	0.8	0.1
	Pirates	Jürgen Georg Purzner		1,354	0.9	1.5	678	0.5	2.0
	NPD						361	0.2	0.4
	DiB						302	0.2
	BP						280	0.2	0.2
	V-Partei³						263	0.2
	DM						216	0.1
	BGE						212	0.1
	Gesundheitsforschung						142	0.1
	MLPD						68	0.0	0.0
	BüSo						17	0.0	0.0
	DKP						16	0.0
Informal votes				888			676
Total valid votes				147,160			147,372
Turnout				148,048	81.9	6.6
	CSU hold		Majority	31,802	21.7	0.5

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Erlangen
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 Stefan Müller		65,151	48.5	3.4	55,940	41.7	5.6
	SPD	Martina Stamm-Fibich		35,377	26.3	2.3	32,638	24.3	3.3
	Greens	Ernst Rappold		11,980	8.9	2.3	15,395	11.5	1.9
	Left	Hans-Joachim Ehnes		5,611	4.2	2.0	5,840	4.4	2.2
	AfD	Siegfried Ermer		4,393	3.3		5,590	4.2
	FW	Axel Rogner		4,079	3.0		3,684	2.7
	Pirates	Andreas Waas		3,216	2.4		3,311	2.5	0.6
	FDP	Michael Székely		2,990	2.2	7.2	7,440	5.5	9.3
	ÖDP						1,144	0.9	0.0
	NPD	Axel Michaelis		957	0.7	0.5	917	0.7	0.3
	Tierschutzpartei						901	0.7	0.1
	BP			569	0.4		507	0.4	0.1
	REP						289	0.2	0.2
	DIE FRAUEN						222	0.2
	DIE VIOLETTEN						126	0.1	0.1
	Party of Reason						113	0.1
	PRO						70	0.1
	RRP						51	0.0	0.7
	MLPD						45	0.0	0.0
	BüSo						26	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				863			937
Total valid votes				134,323			134,249
Turnout				135,186	75.3	1.3
	CSU hold		Majority	29,774	22.2	1.1

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Erlangen
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 Stefan Müller		60,685	45.1	2.3	48,552	36.0	5.4
	SPD	Martina Stamm-Fibich		32,269	24.0	15.5	28,248	21.0	10.9
	Greens	Lutz Bräutigam		15,036	11.2	6.0	18,043	13.4	2.8
	FDP	Britta Dassler		12,736	9.5	5.9	20,048	14.9	5.4
	Left	Hans-Joachim Ehnes		8,275	6.2	3.9	8,821	6.5	3.2
	Pirates						4,096	3.0
	FAMILIE	René Ohnemüller		1,946	1.4		1,095	0.8	0.3
	ÖDP	Manfred Reinhart		1,686	1.3		1,177	0.9
	NPD	Christine Rorich		1,596	1.2	0.1	1,362	1.0	0.1
	RRP						994	0.7
	Tierschutzpartei						794	0.6
	REP						596	0.4	0.0
	BP						308	0.2	0.0
	Independent	Inge Schramm		281	0.2
	DIE VIOLETTEN						210	0.2
	PBC						208	0.2	0.2
	CM						70	0.1
	DVU						50	0.0
	MLPD						45	0.0	0.0
	BüSo						37	0.0	0.1
Informal votes				1,335			1,091
Total valid votes				134,510			134,754
Turnout				135,845	76.6	4.4
	CSU hold		Majority	28,416	21.1	13.2