Waldeck (electoral district)

166 Waldeck
166 Waldeck
Electoral district; for the Bundestag
	Waldeck in 2025
State	Hesse
Population	234,200 (2019)
Electorate	184,073 (2021)
Major settlements	Baunatal ; Korbach ; Bad Wildungen
Area	2,167.3 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	SPD
Member	Esther Dilcher
Elected	2017, 2021

Last updated April 27, 2024

Waldeck 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 166. It is located in northern Hesse, comprising most of the Landkreis Kassel district and the northern part of the Waldeck-Frankenberg district.^[1]

Geography

Waldeck is located in northern Hesse. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the entirety of the Landkreis Kassel district excluding the municipalities of Ahnatal, Espenau, Fuldabrück, Fuldatal, Helsa, Kaufungen, Lohfelden, Nieste, Niestetal, Söhrewald, and Vellmar, as well as the entirety of the Waldeck-Frankenberg district excluding the municipalities of Allendorf (Eder), Battenberg (Eder), Bromskirchen, Burgwald, Frankenau, Frankenberg, Gemünden (Wohra), Haina, Hatzfeld, Rosenthal, and Vöhl.^[1]

History

Waldeck was created in 1949. In the 1949 election, it was Hesse constituency 1 in the numbering system. From 1953 through 1976, it was number 126. From 1980 through 1998, it was number 124. In the 2002 and 2005 elections, it was number 169. In the 2009 election, it was number 168. In the 2013 through 2021 elections, it was number 167. From the 2025 election, it has been number 166.

Originally, the constituency comprised the districts of Waldeck, Hofgeismar, and Wolfhagen. In the 1972 election, it comprised the Waldeck district and the municipalities of Breuna, Calden, Emstal, Grebenstein, Habichtswald, Hofgeismar, Immenhausen, Karlshafen, Liebenau, Naumburg, Oberweser, Reinhardshagen, Trendelburg, Wahlsburg, Wolfhagen, and Zierenberg from the Landkreis Kassel district. In the 1976 election, it acquired borders very similar to its current configuration, but excluding the Baunatal and Schauenburg municipalities from Landkreis Kassel district. It acquired its current borders in the 2002 election.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	1	Waldeck	Waldeck district Hofgeismar district Wolfhagen district
1953	126
1957
1961
1965
1969
1972			Waldeck district Landkreis Kassel district (only Breuna, Calden, Emstal, Grebenstein, Habichtswald, Hofgeismar, Immenhausen, Karlshafen, Liebenau, Naumburg, Oberweser, Reinhardshagen, Trendelburg, Wahlsburg, Wolfhagen, and Zierenberg municipalities)
1976			Landkreis Kassel district (excluding Ahnatal, Baunatal, Espenau, Fuldabrück, Fuldatal, Helsa, Kaufungen, Lohfelden, Nieste, Niestetal, Schauenburg, Söhrewald, and Vellmar municipalities) Waldeck-Frankenberg district (excluding Allendorf (Eder), Battenberg (Eder), Bromskirchen, Burgwald, Frankenau, Frankenberg (Eder), Gemünden (Wohra), Haina (Kloster), Hatzfeld (Eder), Rosenthal, and Vöhl municipalities)
1980	124
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	169		Landkreis Kassel district (excluding Ahnatal, Espenau, Fuldabrück, Fuldatal, Helsa, Kaufungen, Lohfelden, Nieste, Niestetal, Söhrewald, and Vellmar municipalities) Waldeck-Frankenberg district (excluding Allendorf (Eder), Battenberg (Eder), Bromskirchen, Burgwald, Frankenau, Frankenberg (Eder), Gemünden (Wohra), Haina (Kloster), Hatzfeld (Eder), Rosenthal, and Vöhl municipalities)
2005	169
2009	168
2013	167
2017
2021
2025	166

Members

The constituency has been held by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) during all but three Bundestag terms since 1949. It was first represented by Karl Rüdiger of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) from 1949 until his death in 1951. Hans Merten of the SPD won the subsequent by-election, but was defeated at the 1953 federal election by FDP candidate Heinrich Fassbender. Karl Bechert of the SPD was elected in 1957 and served until 1972. He was succeeded by Rudi Walther, who served until 1994. Alfred Hartenbach was then representative until 2009. Ullrich Meßmer served one term from 2009 to 2013, when Thomas Viesehon of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won the constituency. Esther Dilcher regained it for the SPD in 2017 and was re-elected in 2021.

	Member	Party	%
1949	Karl Rüdiger	FDP	35.2
1951	Hans Merten	SPD	47.2
1953	Heinrich Fassbender	FDP	52.5
1957	Karl Bechert	SPD	35.6
1961			42.4
1965			46.7
1969			50.1
1972	Rudi Walther	SPD	53.6
1976			49.7
1980			52.1
1983			48.6
1987			49.5
1990			48.6
1994	Alfred Hartenbach	SPD	47.4
1998			53.0
2002			52.1
2005			50.2
2009	Ullrich Meßmer	SPD	37.8
2013	Thomas Viesehon	CDU	41.5
2017	Esther Dilcher	SPD	35.1
2021	Esther Dilcher	SPD	38.0

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Waldeck^[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	%	±%
	SPD	Y Esther Dilcher		51,613	38.0	2.9	49,064	36.1	5.2
	CDU	Armin Schwarz		35,734	26.3	7.3	30,392	22.3	7.7
	Greens	Peter Koswig		13,581	10.0	4.3	14,775	10.9	4.0
	AfD	Jan Nolte		12,536	9.2	1.8	12,899	9.5	2.2
	FDP	Jochem Rube		12,062	8.9	1.8	15,288	11.2	1.3
	Left	Regina Preysing		4,208	3.1	3.0	4,441	3.3	3.8
	FW	Kira Hauser		3,763	2.8	1.4	2,791	2.1	1.2
	Tierschutzpartei						1,946	1.4	0.5
	dieBasis	Daniele Saracino		1,626	1.2		1,528	1.1
	PARTEI						964	0.7	0.1
	Independent	Gerd Erwin Müller		716	0.5
	Pirates						452	0.3	0.0
	Team Todenhöfer						374	0.3
	Volt						223	0.2
	Gesundheitsforschung						218	0.2
	NPD						159	0.1	0.2
	Independent	Barbara Meyer		151	0.1
	Bündnis C						114	0.1
	ÖDP						106	0.1	0.0
	Humanists						87	0.1
	V-Partei3						83	0.1	0.0
	Bündnis 21						41	0.0
	MLPD						40	0.0	0.0
	LKR						31	0.0
	DKP						27	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,140			2,087
Total valid votes				135,990			136,043
Turnout				138,130	75.0	1.4
	SPD hold		Majority	15,879	11.7	10.2

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Waldeck^[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	Esther Dilcher		49,341	35.1	6.2	43,446	30.9	5.2
	CDU	N Thomas Viesehon		47,269	33.6	7.9	42,232	30.0	6.5
	AfD	Jan Ralf Nolte		15,438	11.0		16,411	11.7	6.6
	FDP	Jochen Rube		9,930	7.1	4.4	13,918	9.9	5.1
	Left	Regina Preysing		8,600	6.1	0.7	9,891	7.0	1.6
	Greens	Jürgen Frömmrich		8,062	5.7	0.6	9,660	6.9	1.2
	Tierschutzpartei						1,329	0.9
	FW	Vera Gleuel		1,910	1.4		1,268	0.9	0.1
	PARTEI						900	0.6	0.2
	Pirates						497	0.4	1.3
	NPD						442	0.3	0.5
	BGE						203	0.1
	DM						175	0.1
	V-Partei³						155	0.1
	ÖDP						127	0.1
	Independent	Karin Puppel		88	0.1
	MLPD						45	0.0	0.0
	BüSo						17	0.0	0.0
	DKP						17	0.0
Informal votes				2,214			2,119
Total valid votes				140,638			140,733
Turnout				142,852	76.5	3.4
	SPD gain from CDU		Majority	2,072	1.5

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Waldeck^[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	Thomas Viesehon		55,444	41.5	6.1	49,063	36.5	6.6
	SPD	N Ullrich Meßmer		55,217	41.3	3.5	48,420	36.0	3.0
	Greens	Caroline Chantal Tönges		8,486	6.3	1.8	10,872	8.1	1.7
	Left	Dieter Hille		7,253	5.4	2.2	7,356	5.5	3.0
	AfD						6,774	5.0
	FDP	Björn Sänger		3,579	2.7	6.9	6,452	4.8	9.9
	Pirates	Arno Schröder		3,177	2.4		2,242	1.7	0.1
	NPD						1,159	0.9
	FW						1,013	0.8
	Independent	Werner Bracht		545	0.4
	PARTEI						525	0.4
	REP						237	0.2	0.2
	PRO						152	0.1
	PSG						71	0.1
	BüSo						47	0.0	0.1
	MLPD						33	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				4,931			4,216
Total valid votes				133,701			134,416
Turnout				138,632	73.1	0.1
	CDU gain from SPD		Majority	227	0.2

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Waldeck^[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	%	±%
	SPD	Ullrich Meßmer		51,737	37.8	12.5	45,343	33.0	11.1
	CDU	Thomas Viesehon		48,414	35.3	0.9	41,109	29.9	0.3
	FDP	Björn Sänger		13,180	9.6	4.9	20,210	14.7	5.0
	Greens	Anke Pavlicek		11,209	8.2	3.7	13,498	9.8	2.3
	Left	Klaus Albrecht		10,400	7.6	2.9	11,657	8.5	3.1
	Pirates						2,175	1.6
	NPD	David Giesler		1,756	1.3	0.1	1,393	1.0	0.1
	Tierschutzpartei						1,121	0.8	0.2
	REP						504	0.4	0.2
	Independent	Jürgen Lenz		311	0.2
	BüSo						122	0.1	0.0
	DVU						115	0.1
	MLPD						48	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				3,801			3,513
Total valid votes				137,007			137,295
Turnout				140,808	73.2	6.3
	SPD hold		Majority	3,323	2.5	13.3

Related Research Articles

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References

1 2 "Constituency Waldeck". Federal Returning Officer.
↑ "Results for Waldeck". Federal Returning Officer.
↑ Results for Waldeck
↑ Results for Waldeck
↑ Results for Waldeck
↑ Results for Waldeck

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[Area-1] 1 2 "Constituency Waldeck". Federal Returning Officer.

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

[3] Results for Waldeck

[4] Results for Waldeck

[5] Results for Waldeck

[6] Results for Waldeck

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

v t e Electoral districts of Hesse in the German Bundestag
Current	Waldeck Kassel Werra-Meißner – Hersfeld-Rotenburg Schwalm-Eder Marburg Lahn-Dill Gießen Fulda Main-Kinzig – Wetterau II – Schotten Hochtaunus Wetterau I Rheingau-Taunus – Limburg Wiesbaden Hanau Main-Taunus Frankfurt am Main I Frankfurt am Main II Groß-Gerau Offenbach Darmstadt Odenwald Bergstraße
Other states	Baden-Württemberg Bavaria‎ Berlin Brandenburg‎ Bremen Hamburg‎ Lower Saxony Mecklenburg-Vorpommern North Rhine-Westphalia Rhineland-Palatinate‎ Saarland Saxony Saxony-Anhalt‎ Schleswig-Holstein‎ Thuringia‎
See also	List of Bundestag constituencies Elections in Germany

166 Waldeck
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Waldeck in 2025
State	Hesse
Population	234,200 (2019)
Electorate	184,073 (2021)
Major settlements	Baunatal Korbach Bad Wildungen
Area	2,167.3 km²
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	SPD
Member	Esther Dilcher
Elected	2017, 2021