Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen IV

Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen IV 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 21. It covers the urban district of Suhl and a small part of Schmalkalden-Meiningen.^[1]

Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen IV was created for the 1994 state election, replacing the constituency of Suhl, which covered only the city of Suhl. Originally named Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen III, it was given its current name in 2014. Since 2024, it has been represented by Thomas Luhn of Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Geography

As of the 2019 state election, Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen IV covers the urban district of Suhl (excluding Gehlberg and Schmiedefeld am Rennsteig) and a small part of Schmalkalden-Meiningen, specifically the municipalities of Oberhof and Zella-Mehlis (excluding Benshausen).^[1]

Members

The constituency was held by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from its creation in 1994 until 2004. Its first representative was Werner Ulbrich, who served from 1994 to 1999, followed by Wolfgang Wehner (1999–2004). It was won by the Party of Democratic Socialism in 2004, and represented by Ina Leukefeld. She was re-elected as a candidate for The Left in 2009 and 2014, and the seat was then held by Philipp Weltzien of The Left in 2019. In 2024, Thomas Luhn of Alternative for Germany won the seat.

	Member	Party	%
1994	Werner Ulbrich	CDU	36.0
1999	Wolfgang Wehner	CDU	43.8
2004	Ina Leukefeld	PDS	42.6
2009		LINKE	39.4
2014		LINKE	40.7
2019	Philipp Weltzien	LINKE	30.7
2024	Thomas Luhn	AfD	32.8

Election results

2024 election

State election (2024): Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen IV^[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	Thomas Luhn		9,332	32.8	12.5	9,384	32.9	13.3
	CDU	Lars Jähne		7,521	26.5	0.6	6,496	22.8	2.1
	BSW	Steffi Eschrich		5,204	18.3		5,638	19.8
	Left	N Philipp Weltzien		3,096	10.9	19.8	3,691	12.9	26.2
	SPD	Diana Lehmann		1,817	6.4	4.7	1,433	5.0	2.5
	FW	Michael Student		716	2.5		405	1.4
	FDP	Andreas Schmidt		408	1.4	2.3	309	1.1	2.6
	Greens	Manfred Kroeber		333	1.2	5.6	444	1.6	2.9
	APT						266	0.9	0.3
	Values						124	0.4
	BD						102	0.4
	Familie						102	0.4
	Pirates						71	0.2	0.2
	ÖDP						45	0.2	0.2
	MLPD						18	0.1	0.2
Informal votes				317			216
Total valid votes				28,427			28,528
Turnout				28,744	72.4	9.7
	AfD gain from Left		Majority	1,811	6.3

2019 election

State election (2019): Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen IV^[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	%	±%
	Left	Philipp Weltzien		7,371	30.7	10.0	9,431	39.1	3.4
	CDU	Marcus Kalkhake		6,521	27.1	2.4	4,986	20.7	7.8
	AfD	Martina Stier		4,876	20.3		4,736	19.6	8.9
	SPD	Diana Lehmann		2,663	11.1	1.0	1,816	7.5	3.2
	Greens	Tobias Lemme		1,627	6.8	3.0	1,097	4.5	0.1
	FDP	Holger Holland		878	3.7	1.9	901	3.7	2.0
	MLPD	Detlef Muselmann		90	0.4		62	0.3
	List-only parties						1,095	4.5
Informal votes				362			264
Total valid votes				24,026			24,124
Turnout				24,388	62.7	11.0
	Left hold		Majority	850	3.6	7.6

2014 election

State election (2014): Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen IV^[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	%	±%
	Left	Y Ina Leukefeld		8,678	40.7	1.3	7,654	35.7	0.7
	CDU	Wolfgang Voß		6,306	29.5	4.6	6,110	28.5	2.8
	SPD	Diana Lehmann		2,160	10.1	2.2	2,302	10.7	5.2
	AfD						2,287	10.7
	Free Voters	Christian Scharfenberg		1,802	8.4	0.1	670	3.1	1.8
	NPD	Philipp Stöcklein		1,211	5.7	2.0	774	3.6	0.0
	Greens	Alexander Keiner		815	3.8	1.1	981	4.6	1.2
	FDP	Matthias Kaiser		376	1.8	4.5	357	1.7	5.4
	List-only parties						328	1.5
Informal votes				400			285
Total valid votes				21,348			21,463
Turnout				21,748	51.7	3.6
	Left hold		Majority	2,372	11.2	3.3

2009 election

State election (2009): Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen IV^[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	%	±%
	Left	Y Ina Leukefeld		9,760	39.4	3.2	9,040	36.4	2.9
	CDU	Wolfgang Wehner		6,175	24.9	8.6	6,396	25.7	8.8
	SPD	Thomas Schmidt		3,039	12.3	5.1	3,941	15.9	1.7
	Free Voters	Manfred Hardt		2,118	8.5		1,212	4.9	0.2
	FDP	Bejamin Honauer		1,568	6.3	0.2	1,765	7.1	3.4
	Greens	Ludger Kanngießer		1,205	4.9		1,434	5.8	1.9
	NPD	Kurt Hoppe		922	3.7		895	3.6	2.1
	List-only parties						170	0.7
Informal votes				418			352
Total valid votes				24,787			24,853
Turnout				25,205	55.3	3.9
	Left hold		Majority	3,585	14.5	5.4

2004 election

State election (2004): Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen IV^[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	%	±%
	PDS	Ina Leukefeld		10,070	42.6	8.3	8,104	33.5	3.5
	CDU	N Wolfgang Wehner		7,935	33.5	10.3	8,346	34.5	12.9
	SPD	Matthias Griebel		4,114	17.4	2.1	3,441	14.2	1.7
	FDP	Ilka Brückner		1,541	6.5	3.2	896	3.7	2.9
	List-only parties						3,415	14.1
Informal votes				1,355			813
Total valid votes				23,660			24,202
Turnout				25,015	51.4	6.6
	PDS gain from CDU		Majority	2,135	9.1

1999 election

State election (1999): Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen IV^[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	Wolfgang Wehner		12,954	43.8	7.8	14,110	47.4	10.9
	PDS	Gabi Zimmer		10,143	34.3	5.8	8,922	30.0	2.8
	SPD	Klaus Goedecke		4,531	15.3	7.7	4,726	15.9	8.6
	FDP	Eberhardt Lesser		966	3.3	0.9	246	0.8	1.8
	Greens	Simone Maaß		559	1.9	2.7	474	1.6	1.9
	REP	Sören Herrmann		456	1.5	0.4	94	0.3	0.8
	List-only parties						1,169	3.9
Informal votes				403			271
Total valid votes				29,609			29,741
Turnout				30,012	58.0	16.5
	CDU hold		Majority	2,811	9.5	2.0

1994 election

State election (1994): Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen IV^[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 Ulbrich		14,134	36.0		14,346	36.5
	PDS			11,175	28.5		10,679	27.2
	SPD			9,042	23.0		9,643	24.5
	Greens			1,788	4.6		1,749	4.5
	New Forum			1,736	4.4		1,003	2.6
	FDP			923	2.4		1,040	2.6
	REP			449	1.1		435	1.1
	List-only parties						403	1.0
Informal votes				856			807
Total valid votes				39,247			39,296
Turnout				40,103	74.5
	CDU win new seat		Majority	2,959	7.5

References

[Area-1] "Landtagswahlen 2019 - Wahlkreise und dazugehörige Gemeinden".

[2] ttps://wahlen.thueringen.de/datenbank/wahl1/WAHL.asp?wahlart=LW&wJahr=2024&zeigeErg=WK&auswertung=1&wknr=021&gemnr=&terrKrs=&gemteil=000&buchstabe=&Langname=&wahlvorschlag=&sort=&druck=&XLS=&anzahlH=0&Nicht_existierende=&x_vollbildDatenteil=&optik=&aktual=&ShowLand=&ShowWK=&ShowPart=

[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

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