Deggendorf (electoral district)

226 Deggendorf
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Deggendorf in 2025
State	Bavaria
Population	211,600 (2019)
Electorate	166,186 (2021)
Major settlements	Deggendorf Plattling Osterhofen
Area	1,941.0 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	CSU
Member	Thomas Erndl
Elected	2017, 2021

Deggendorf 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 226. It is located in southeastern Bavaria, comprising the districts of Deggendorf and Freyung-Grafenau. ^[1]

Deggendorf was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2017, it has been represented by Thomas Erndl of the Christian Social Union (CSU). ^[2]

Geography

Deggendorf is located in southeastern Bavaria. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the districts of Deggendorf and Freyung-Grafenau as well as the municipalities of Aicha vorm Wald, Eging am See, Fürstenstein, and Hofkirchen from the Passau district. ^[1]

History

Deggendorf was created in 1949. In the 1949 election, it was Bavaria constituency 13 in the numbering system. In the 1953 through 1961 elections, it was number 208. In the 1965 through 1998 elections, it was number 213. In the 2002 and 2005 elections, it was number 228. In the 2009 through 2021 elections, it was number 227. From the 2025 election, it has been number 226.

Originally, the constituency comprised the independent city of Deggendorf and the districts of Landkreis Deggendorf, Kötzting, Regen, and Viechtach. In the 1965 through 1972 elections, it also contained the district of Grafenau. In the 1976 through 2013 elections, it comprised the districts of Deggendorf and Freyung-Grafenau. It acquired its current borders in the 2017 election.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	13	Deggendorf	Deggendorf city Landkreis Deggendorf district Kötzting district Regen district Viechtach district
1953	208
1957
1961
1965	213		Deggendorf city Landkreis Deggendorf district Kötzting district Regen district Viechtach district Grafenau district
1969
1972
1976			Deggendorf district Freyung-Grafenau district
1980
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	228
2005
2009	227
2013
2017			Deggendorf district Freyung-Grafenau district Passau district (only Aicha vorm Wald, Eging am See, Fürstenstein, and Hofkirchen municipalities)
2021
2025	226

Members

The constituency has been held by the Christian Social Union (CSU) during all but one Bundestag term since its creation. It was first represented by Ludwig Volkholz of the Bavaria Party (BP) from 1949 to 1953. Stefan Dittrich won it for the CSU in 1953, and served until 1972. He was succeeded by Franz Handlos from 1972 to 1987. Handlos was elected for the CSU in each of his four terms, but left the party in 1983 to co-found The Republicans. After losing the leadership of the party, he founded the Freedom People's Party (FVP) in 1985. He was defeated in 1987 by CSU candidate Bartholomäus Kalb. Kalb was then representative from 1987 to 2017, a total of eight consecutive terms. Thomas Erndl was elected in 2017 and re-elected in 2021.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	Ludwig Volkholz	BP	35.5
	1953	Stefan Dittrich	CSU	48.1
	1957			61.8
	1961			63.8
	1965			63.0
	1969			58.8
	1972	Franz Handlos [lower-alpha 1]	CSU	65.0
	1976			73.3
	1980			72.0
	1983			73.6
			REP
			FVP
	1987	Bartholomäus Kalb	CSU	57.2
	1990			61.6
	1994			61.1
	1998			56.2
	2002			68.9
	2005			61.0
	2009			52.9
	2013			61.4
	2017	Thomas Erndl	CSU	44.1
	2021			37.4

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Deggendorf [3]
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 Thomas Erndl		47,267	37.4	6.7	42,154	33.3	7.3
	FW	Martin Behringer		19,718	15.6	10.0	18,206	14.4	10.3
	SPD	Rita Hagl-Kehl		19,527	15.4	2.0	19,873	15.7	1.4
	AfD	Hans Fellner		17,432	13.8	3.5	17,911	14.1	5.0
	Greens	Matthias Schwinger		6,890	5.4	0.9	8,516	6.7	2.1
	FDP	Muhanad Al-Halak		6,325	5.0	1.0	10,778	8.5	1.0
	BP	Thomas Pfeffer		2,660	2.1	0.9	1,516	1.2	0.7
	Left	Melanie Demmelhuber		1,895	1.5	2.7	2,301	1.8	3.1
	dieBasis	Lothar Wandtner		1,870	1.5		1,599	1.3
	Tierschutzpartei						1,059	0.8	0.1
	ÖDP	Rolf Sihr		1,144	0.9		750	0.6	0.1
	PARTEI	Janina Nizik		905	0.7		646	0.5	0.2
	Pirates	Josef Reichardt		459	0.4		333	0.3	0.1
	Team Todenhöfer						175	0.1
	V-Partei3	Johann Kiermaier		410	0.3		156	0.1	0.0
	Unabhängige						150	0.1
	Volt						100	0.1
	Gesundheitsforschung						90	0.1	0.0
	NPD						88	0.1	0.3
	The III. Path						67	0.1
	Humanists						63	0.0
	Bündnis C						48	0.0
	du.						29	0.0
	LKR						17	0.0
	MLPD						12	0.0	0.0
	DKP						7	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				691			549
Total valid votes				126,502			126,644
Turnout				127,193	76.5	4.9
	CSU hold		Majority	27,549	21.8	4.9

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Deggendorf [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	%	±%
	CSU	Thomas Erndl		52,167	44.1	17.3	48,182	40.6	15.6
	SPD	Rita Hagl-Kehl		20,612	17.4	1.2	16,915	14.2	2.5
	AfD	Katrin Ebner-Steiner		20,438	17.3	14.0	22,765	19.2	15.2
	FW	Georg Meiski		6,563	5.5	0.8	4,785	4.0	0.2
	Greens	Christian Heilmann		5,342	4.5	0.0	5,528	4.7	0.3
	Left	Yenni Kellermann		4,955	4.2	1.1	5,892	5.0	1.6
	FDP	Kenneth Kooter		4,707	4.0	2.0	8,968	7.6	3.7
	BP	Thomas Pfeffer		3,607	3.0	1.3	2,258	1.9	0.2
	Tierschutzpartei						927	0.8	0.1
	ÖDP						824	0.7	0.3
	NPD						489	0.4	1.1
	PARTEI						374	0.3
	Pirates						241	0.2	1.2
	V-Partei³						158	0.1
	DM						118	0.1
	Gesundheitsforschung						106	0.1
	DiB						96	0.1
	BGE						86	0.1
	MLPD						18	0.0	0.0
	BüSo						16	0.0	0.0
	DKP						8	0.0
Informal votes				1,064			701
Total valid votes				118,391			118,754
Turnout				119,455	71.7	11.2
	CSU hold		Majority	31,555	26.7	18.8

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Deggendorf [5]
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 Bartholomäus Kalb		57,145	61.4	8.5	52,481	56.3	9.8
	SPD	Rita Hagl-Kehl		14,779	15.9	0.5	15,438	16.6	2.1
	FW	Stefan Kaiser		4,462	4.8		4,007	4.3
	Greens	Antje Laux		4,187	4.5	2.7	4,065	4.4	2.2
	AfD	Rudolf Weiss		3,040	3.3		3,787	4.1
	Left	Rolf Pannicke		2,802	3.0	4.3	3,107	3.3	4.7
	FDP	Sebastian Dietmar		1,950	2.1	9.8	3,557	3.8	10.5
	BP			1,773	1.9		1,559	1.7	0.4
	NPD	Alfred Steinleitner		1,664	1.8	1.5	1,440	1.5	0.8
	Pirates	Walter Straßer		1,296	1.4		1,280	1.4	0.1
	ÖDP						935	1.0	0.3
	Tierschutzpartei						661	0.7	0.1
	REP						435	0.5	1.1
	DIE FRAUEN						171	0.2
	DIE VIOLETTEN						87	0.1	0.1
	Party of Reason						66	0.1
	PRO						66	0.1
	RRP						36	0.0	0.5
	BüSo						13	0.0	0.0
	MLPD						11	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				843			739
Total valid votes				93,098			93,202
Turnout				93,941	60.6	0.8
	CSU hold		Majority	42,366	45.5	9.0

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Deggendorf [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	%	±%
	CSU	Y Bartholomäus Kalb		49,398	52.9	8.1	43,628	46.5	11.2
	SPD	Rita Hagl		15,336	16.4	7.4	13,611	14.5	6.0
	FDP	Gerhard Drexler [lower-alpha 2]		11,065	11.8	6.1	13,485	14.4	6.5
	Left	Rolf Pannicke		6,851	7.3	4.0	7,536	8.0	4.3
	Greens	Josef Rosner		6,717	7.2	4.2	6,189	6.6	2.9
	NPD	Alfred Steinleitner		3,039	3.3	0.2	2,190	2.3	0.1
	REP						1,449	1.5	0.4
	BP						1,213	1.3	0.4
	ÖDP						1,178	1.3
	Pirates						1,160	1.2
	Freie Union	Josef Brunner		992	1.1
	FAMILIE						686	0.7	0.1
	Tierschutzpartei						537	0.6
	RRP						514	0.5
	DIE VIOLETTEN						187	0.2
	CM						112	0.1
	PBC						110	0.1	0.1
	DVU						46	0.0
	BüSo						25	0.0	0.0
	MLPD						17	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,524			1,049
Total valid votes				93,398			93,873
Turnout				94,922	61.3	9.5
	CSU hold		Majority	34,062	36.5	0.7

Notes

1. Handlos was elected for the CSU, but left the party in July 1983 and co-founded The Republicans. He left the party in 1985 to found the Freiheitliche Volkspartei (Freedom People's Party, FVP) in 1985.
2. Drexler entered the Bundestag on the FDP list after the resignation of Max Stadler in May 2013.

References

1. "Constituency Deggendorf". Federal Returning Officer.
2. "Results for Deggendorf". Federal Returning Officer.
3. Results for Deggendorf
4. Results for Deggendorf
5. Results for Deggendorf
6. Results for Deggendorf