Schwalm-Eder is an electoral constituency (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

: ''Wahlkreis'') represented in the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

. It elects one member via

first-past-the-post voting In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 170. It is located in northern

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

, comprising the

Schwalm-Eder-Kreis Schwalm-Eder-Kreis is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the north of Hesse, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Kassel, Werra-Meißner, Hersfeld-Rotenburg, Vogelsberg, Marburg-Biedenkopf, and Waldeck-Frankenberg. History In 1821 districts were created ...

district and the southern part of the

Waldeck-Frankenberg Waldeck-Frankenberg is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the north of Hesse, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Höxter, Kassel, Schwalm-Eder, Marburg-Biedenkopf, Siegen-Wittgenstein, Hochsauerland. History The district was created in 1972 by merging t ...

district. Schwalm-Eder was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2009, it has been represented by

Edgar Franke Edgar Franke (born 21 January 1960) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Hesse since 2009. In addition to his parliamentary work, he has been serving as Pa ...

of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

(SPD).

Geography

Schwalm-Eder is located in northern

. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the entirety of the Schwalm-Eder-Kreis district and the municipalities of

Allendorf (Eder) Allendorf (Eder) () is a municipality which situated in the north west of Hesse, Germany. The municipality is within the Waldeck-Frankenberg district in a rural region called the upper Eder Valley. The Burgwald range is located west of Allendor ...

Battenberg (Eder) Battenberg (Eder) is a small town in Waldeck-Frankenberg district, the state of Hesse, Germany. The town is noted for giving its name to the Battenberg family, a morganatic branch of the ruling House of Hesse-Darmstadt, and through it, the name Mo ...

Bromskirchen Bromskirchen is a village and a former municipality in Waldeck-Frankenberg in Hesse, Germany. On 1 January 2023, it was merged into the municipality of Allendorf (Eder).Burgwald Burgwald is a municipality in Waldeck-Frankenberg in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Burgwald lies east of Battenberg and roughly 30 km north of the university town of Marburg. The community lies on the northwestern edge of the Burgwald ...

Frankenau Frankenau () is a small town in Waldeck-Frankenberg district in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Frankenau lies in the Kellerwald range southwest of the Talgang (566 m-high mountain). It is found on the southern edge of the Kellerwald-Eder ...

, Frankenberg,

Gemünden (Wohra) Gemünden () is a town in Waldeck-Frankenberg district in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Gemünden lies roughly 22 km northeast of Marburg on the edge of the Burgwald range to the west and near the Kellerwald range rising to the northeas ...

Haina Haina (Kloster) is a municipality in Waldeck-Frankenberg in northwest Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Haina lies in Waldeck-Frankenberg south of Frankenberg and east of Burgwald at the southwest slope of the Kellerwald range. It lies on the ...

Hatzfeld Hatzfeld (Eder) is a small town in Waldeck-Frankenberg district in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Hatzfeld lies in west Hesse 25 km northwest of Marburg and north of the Sackpfeife (674 m-high mountain) in the valley of the Eder. ...

, Rosenthal, and

Vöhl Vöhl is a municipality in Waldeck-Frankenberg in Hesse, Germany, not far southwest of Kassel. Geography Location Vöhl lies in the northern part of the Kellerwald-Edersee Nature Park on the Edersee, a man-made lake. It is located 40 kilometers ...

from the Waldeck-Frankenberg district.

History

Schwalm-Eder was created in 1949, then known as ''Fritzlar-Homberg''. In the 1976 election, it was named ''Fritzlar''. It acquired its current name in the 1980 election. In the 1949 election, it was Hesse constituency 4 in the numbering system. In the 1953 through 1976 elections, it was number 129. From 1980 through 1998, it was number 127. In 2002 and 2005, it was number 172. In the 2009 election, it was number 171. Since 2013, it has been number 170. Originally, the constituency comprised the districts of Frankenberg, Fritzlar-Homberg, and Ziegenhain. In the 1965 and 1969 elections, it also contained the municipality of Schiffelbach from the Landkreis Marburg district. In the 1972 election, it comprised the districts of Frankenberg and Fritzlar-Homberg, the municipality of

Breitenbach am Herzberg Breitenbach am Herzberg (officially ''Breitenbach a. Herzberg'') is a municipality in southwesternmost Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in eastern Hesse, Germany. Geography Location The community lies at the foot of the Hirschberg (often also known a ...

from the Hersfeld-Rotenburg district, the municipality of Schiffelbach from the Landkreis Marburg district, and the ''Ortsteile'' of Berfa, Hattendorf, and Lingelbach in

Alsfeld Alsfeld () is a town in the center of Hesse, in Germany. Located about north of Frankfurt, Alsfeld is in the center of Hesse and part of the densely populated Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. It is well known for its well-preserved old ...

municipality from the Vogelsbergkreis district. In the 1976 election, it acquired borders similar to its current configuration, but excluding the municipalities of

Felsberg Felsberg (german: rock hill, link=no) may refer to: * Felsberg, Hessen, a town in Schwalm-Eder-Kreis, Hessen, Germany * , a part of Überherrn, Landkreis Saarlouis, Saarland, Germany * Felsberg (Odenwald), a mountain in the Odenwald hills, Landk ...

Guxhagen Guxhagen is a municipality in Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse, Germany. Geography Guxhagen lies about 15 km south of Kassel between the Habichtswald Nature Park and the Meißner-Kaufunger Wald Nature Park on the river Fulda. It n ...

Körle Körle is a municipality in the Schwalm-Eder district in Hesse, Germany. It lies about 20 km south of Kassel near the turn-off for Guxhagen on Autobahn A 7. History Körle was first mentioned in 1074 in a donation document from the Fulda mon ...

Malsfeld Malsfeld is a municipality in the Schwalm-Eder district in Hesse, Germany, on the river Fulda. The community consists of the centres of Beiseförth, Dagobertshausen, Elfershausen, Mosheim, Malsfeld, Ostheim and Sipperhausen. The community was on ...

Melsungen Melsungen () is a small climatic spa town in the Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse, Germany. In 1987, the town hosted the 27th ''Hessentag'' state festival. Geography Melsungen lies on the river Fulda in the North Hesse Highlands. The stream ...

, Morschen, and

Spangenberg Spangenberg is a small town in northeastern Hesse, Germany. Geography Spangenberg lies in the Schwalm-Eder district some southeast of Kassel, west of the Stölzinger Gebirge, a low mountain range. Spangenberg is the demographic centrepoint o ...

from Schwalm-Eder-Kreis. It acquired its current borders in the 2002 election.

Members

The constituency has been held by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) during all but three Bundestag terms since its creation. It was first represented by August-Martin Euler of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) from 1949 to 1957, followed by Kurt Wittmer-Eigenbrodt of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) until 1961.

Harri Bading Harri is a given name, and may refer to: *Guto Harri (born 1966), Welsh former BBC Chief Political Correspondent *Harri Anne Smith, American Republican member of the Alabama Senate * Harri Eloranta (born 1963), Finnish biathlete * Harri Hänninen ...

of the SPD was elected in 1961 and served two terms. He was succeeded by Heinz Kreutzmann, who served from 1969 to 1983. Albert Pfuhl was then representative from 1983 to 1994, followed by Gerd Höfer until 2009. Edgar Franke was elected in 2009, and re-elected in 2013, 2017, and 2021.

Election results

2021 election

2017 election

2013 election

2009 election

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwalm-Eder Federal electoral districts in Hesse 1949 establishments in West Germany Constituencies established in 1949 Schwalm-Eder-Kreis Waldeck-Frankenberg