Wartburgkreis III

Wartburgkreis III is an electoral constituency (German: Wahlkreis) represented in the Landtag of Thuringia. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 7. It covers the northern part of Wartburgkreis. ^[1]

Wartburgkreis III was created for the 1994 state election. Since 2014, it has been represented by Marcus Malsch of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Geography

As of the 2019 state election, Wartburgkreis III covers the northern part of Wartburgkreis, specifically the municipalities of Bad Liebenstein, Barchfeld-Immelborn, Berka vor dem Hainich, Bischofroda, Creuzburg, Ebenshausen, Frankenroda, Hallungen, Hörselberg-Hainich, Krauthausen, Lauterbach, Mihla, Moorgrund, Nazza, Ruhla, Seebach, Treffurt, and Wutha-Farnroda. ^[1]

Members

The constituency has been held by the Christian Democratic Union since its creation in 1994. Its first representative was Werner Grünert, who served from 1994 to 1999, followed by Gustav Bergemann (1999–2014) and Marcus Malsch (2014–present).

Election		Member	Party	%
	1994	Werner Grünert	CDU	40.3
	1999	Gustav Bergemann	CDU	47.7
	2004			43.3
	2009			34.6
	2014	Marcus Malsch  [ de ]	CDU	37.0
	2019			29.0
	2024			46.3

Election results

2024 election

State election (2024): Wartburgkreis III [2]
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	%	±%
	AfD						9,806	35.3	11.4
	CDU	Y Marcus Malsch  [ de ]		11,057	46.3	17.3	6,846	24.6	2.1
	BSW						4,375	15.7
	FW	Andreas Boehme		5,145	21.6	18.7	460	1.7
	Left	Torsten Because		3,675	15.4	9.4	3,255	11.7	19.6
	SPD	Katja Böhler		2,890	12.1	3.3	1,541	5.5	2.8
	Greens						453	1.6	2.2
	APT						304	1.1
	FDP	Matthias Fallenstein		1,098	4.6	0.7	295	1.1	3.3
	BD						125	0.4
	Familie						112	0.4
	Values						109	0.4
	Pirates						60	0.2	0.1
	ÖDP						30	0.1	0.3
	MLPD						22	0.1	0.2
Informal votes				4,297			369
Total valid votes				23,865			27,793
Turnout				28,162	74.1	8.4
	CDU hold		Majority	5,912	24.7	21.0

2019 election

State election (2019): Wartburgkreis III [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	%	±%
	CDU	Y Marcus Malsch  [ de ]		7,971	29.0	8.0	6,204	22.5	11.4
	AfD	Klaus Stöber		6,944	25.3		6,576	23.9	14.9
	Left	Anke Wirsing		6,799	24.8	4.4	8,628	31.3	3.6
	SPD	Lutz Kromke		2,424	8.8	7.8	2,273	8.3	5.6
	Greens	Elias Bohn		1,343	4.9	0.6	1,050	3.8	0.8
	FDP	Sebastian Bethge		1,079	3.9	1.4	1,222	4.4	2.1
	Free Voters	Andreas Böhme		792	2.9	2.2
	MLPD	Joachim Gärtner		99	0.4		76	0.3
	List-only parties						1,514	5.5
Informal votes				479			387
Total valid votes				27,451			27,543
Turnout				27,930	65.7	12.0
	CDU hold		Majority	1,027	3.7	4.1

2014 election

State election (2014): Wartburgkreis III [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	%	±%
	CDU	Marcus Malsch  [ de ]		8,695	37.0	2.4	8,015	31.3	2.6
	Left	Hans-Jörg Lessig		6,873	29.2	5.1	6,548	27.7	1.3
	SPD	Matthias Kehr		3,896	16.6	1.9	3,290	13.9	6.7
	AfD						2,136	9.0
	NPD	Hendrik Tilmann Heller		1,273	5.4	0.3	1,118	4.7	0.2
	Free Voters	Andreas Böhme		1,196	5.1	2.3	520	2.2	2.6
	Greens	Danilo Saft		1,002	4.3	1.0	1,092	4.6	0.5
	FDP	Fred Leise		584	2.5	2.6	545	2.3	3.8
	List-only parties						353	1.5
Informal votes				473			375
Total valid votes				23,519			23,617
Turnout				23,992	53.7	2.6
	CDU hold		Majority	1,822	7.8	2.7

2009 election

State election (2009): Wartburgkreis III [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	%	±%
	CDU	Y Gustav Bergemann		9,091	34.6	8.7	8,260	31.3	11.4
	Left	Sascha Bilay		6,333	24.1	5.2	6,953	26.4	0.3
	SPD	Sabine Doht		4,853	18.5	0.2	5,442	20.6	4.5
	Free Voters	Andreas Böhme		1,934	7.4		1,262	4.8	1.2
	Greens	Danilo Saft		1,402	5.3	1.4	1,342	5.1	1.3
	NPD	Karsten Höhn		1,335	5.1		1,299	4.9	3.9
	FDP	Fred Leise		1,328	5.1	0.4	1,608	6.1	3.0
	List-only parties						188	0.7
Informal votes				605			527
Total valid votes				26,276			26,354
Turnout				26,881	56.3	1.3
	CDU hold		Majority	2,758	10.5	2.5

2004 election

State election (2004): Wartburgkreis III [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 Gustav Bergemann		11,170	43.3	4.4	11,106	42.7	8.9
	PDS	Rosel Neuhäuser		7,561	29.3	8.8	6,799	26.1	7.2
	SPD	Sabine Doht		4,831	18.7	6.6	4,194	16.1	5.0
	FDP	Rüdiger Schwanz		1,224	4.7	2.2	797	3.1	2.1
	Greens	Stefan Schweßinger		1,016	3.9	1.9	980	3.8	2.0
	List-only parties						2,126	8.2
Informal votes				1,400			1,200
Total valid votes				25,802			26,002
Turnout				27,202	55.0	5.3
	CDU hold		Majority	3,609	14.0	8.4

1999 election

State election (1999): Wartburgkreis III [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	Gustav Bergemann		14,055	47.7	7.3	15,304	51.6	9.4
	SPD	Sabine Doht		7,441	25.3	8.8	6,262	21.1	12.0
	PDS	Hans-Jörg Lessig		6,031	20.5	7.3	5,590	18.9	5.4
	FDP	Jürgen Bohn		725	2.5	4.2	306	1.0	2.6
	REP	Johannes Müller		628	2.1		203	0.7	0.5
	Greens	Michael Spielmann		582	2.0	3.5	530	1.8	3.0
	List-only parties						1,438	4.9
Informal votes				613			442
Total valid votes				29,462			29,633
Turnout				30,075	60.3	16.1
	CDU hold		Majority	6,614	22.4	16.1

1994 election

State election (1994): Wartburgkreis III [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	Werner Grünert		14,089	40.3		14,926	42.2
	SPD			11,941	34.1		11,718	33.1
	PDS			4,654	13.3		4,803	13.6
	FDP			2,359	6.7		1,270	3.6
	Greens			1,942	5.6		1,712	4.8
	List-only parties						977	2.8
Informal votes				1,416			995
Total valid votes				34,985			35,406
Turnout				36,401	76.4
	CDU win new seat		Majority	2,148	6.2

References

1. "Landtagswahlen 2019 - Wahlkreise und dazugehörige Gemeinden".
2. "Wahlen in Thüringen". wahlen.thueringen.de. Retrieved 2025-08-08.
3. Landtagswahl in Thüringen am. 27 Oktober 2019
4. Wahlen in Thüringen 2014
5. Wahlen in Thüringen 2009
6. Wahlen in Thüringen 2004
7. Wahlen in Thüringen 1999
8. Wahlen in Thüringen 1994