Cloppenburg – Vechta

32 Cloppenburg – Vechta
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Cloppenburg – Vechta in 2025
State	Lower Saxony
Population	313,500 (2019)
Electorate	223,948 (2021)
Major settlements	Cloppenburg Vechta Lohne
Area	2,234.5 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	CDU
Member	Silvia Breher
Elected	2017, 2021

Cloppenburg – Vechta 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 32. It is located in northwestern Lower Saxony, comprising the Cloppenburg and Vechta districts.^[1]

Cloppenburg – Vechta was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2017, it has been represented by Silvia Breher of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).^[2] It is considered one of the safest seats for the CDU, which often receives an absolute majority of the popular vote. This is partly due to the region being very catholic in an otherwise majority-Protestant state.

Cloppenburg – Vechta is located in northwestern Lower Saxony. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the entirety of the Cloppenburg and Vechta districts.^[1]

Cloppenburg – Vechta was created in 1949, then known as Vechta – Cloppenburg. From 1965 to 1980, it was named Cloppenburg. It acquired its current name in the 1980 election. In the inaugural Bundestag election, it was Lower Saxony constituency 9 in the numbering system. From 1953 through 1961, it was number 31. From 1965 through 1998, it was number 27. From 2002 through 2009, it was number 33. Since 2013, it has been constituency 32.

Originally, the constituency comprised the districts of Cloppenburg and Vechta, as well as the municipalities of Großenkneten, Hatten, Wardenburg, and Wüsting from the Landkreis Oldenburg district. Since the 1965 election, it has comprised only the districts of Cloppenburg and Vechta.

The constituency has been held continuously by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since its creation. It is a traditional stronghold of the CDU, frequently the party's safest constituency. Its first representative was Georg Kühling, who served a single term from 1949 to 1953. He was succeeded by Kurt Schmücker, who served five terms. Manfred Carstens then represented it for nine terms from 1972 to 2005. Franz-Josef Holzenkamp served until 2017. Silvia Breher won the constituency in 2017, and was re-elected in 2021.

Federal election (2021): Cloppenburg – Vechta[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 Silvia Breher		80,134	49.1	8.6	62,837	38.5	14.6
	SPD	Alexander Bartz[a]		33,825	20.7	0.4	40,212	24.6	6.9
	Greens	Tanja Meyer		17,366	10.6	6.3	18,093	11.1	6.0
	FDP	Carolin Abeln		14,397	8.8	3.7	19,747	12.1	2.7
	AfD	Waldemar Herdt		12,674	7.8	0.1	12,772	7.8	0.3
	Left	Tom Dobrowolski		3,542	2.2	1.9	3,549	2.2	2.2
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,579	1.0	0.5
	PARTEI						1,093	0.7	0.1
	dieBasis	Melanie Lorenz		1,248	0.8		1,088	0.7
	FW						792	0.5	0.2
	Pirates						474	0.3	0.1
	Volt						323	0.2
	Team Todenhöfer						268	0.2
	NPD						104	0.1	0.1
	Humanists						104	0.1
	du.						92	0.1
	ÖDP						80	0.0	0.0
	V-Partei3						67	0.0	0.0
	LKR						49	0.0
	DKP						17	0.0
	MLPD						12	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,321			1,155
Total valid votes				163,486			163,652
Turnout				164,507	73.5	0.9
	CDU hold		Majority	46,309	28.4	8.9

Federal election (2017): Cloppenburg – Vechta[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	Silvia Breher		93,545	57.7	8.6	86,301	53.1	10.1
	SPD	Kristian Kater		32,997	20.4	0.9	28,870	17.8	2.0
	AfD	Holger Teuteberg		12,683	7.8	5.7	13,145	8.1	5.7
	FDP	Caroline Covolo		8,306	5.1	3.3	15,298	9.4	4.8
	Greens	Julius Flinks		7,034	4.3	0.6	8,207	5.0	0.8
	Left	Daniel Welp		6,640	4.1	1.6	7,145	4.4	1.6
	FW	Michael Osterloh		914	0.6	0.4	530	0.3	0.2
	PARTEI						868	0.5
	Human Environment Animal Protection						803	0.5	0.0
	Pirates						381	0.2	1.0
	NPD						308	0.2	0.4
	DM						181	0.1
	V-Partei³						134	0.1
	ÖDP						110	0.1
	DiB						105	0.1
	BGE						91	0.1
	MLPD						21	0.0	0.0
	DKP						18	0.0
Informal votes				1,550			1,153
Total valid votes				162,119			162,516
Turnout				163,669	74.4	3.3
	CDU hold		Majority	60,548	37.3	7.7

Federal election (2013): Cloppenburg – Vechta[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 Franz-Josef Holzenkamp		101,015	66.3	4.0	96,401	63.2	8.7
	SPD	Gabriele Groneberg[b]		32,422	21.3	2.2	30,168	19.8	3.3
	Greens	Josef Diersen		5,702	3.7	0.7	6,488	4.3	1.1
	Left	Günter Kreßmann		3,821	2.5	2.2	4,259	2.8	2.3
	AfD	Holger Teuteberg		3,238	2.1		3,576	2.3
	FDP	Peter Friedhoff		2,812	1.8	6.8	7,073	4.6	11.0
	Pirates						1,816	1.2	0.1
	FW	Heinrich Luhr		1,451	1.0		799	0.5
	FAMILIE	André Schäfer		1,022	0.7
	NPD	Ralf Thomas Taube		870	0.6	0.3	877	0.6	0.2
	Human Environment Animal Protection						681	0.4	0.1
	PBC						250	0.2
	PRO						104	0.1
	REP						51	0.0
	MLPD						21	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,416			1,205
Total valid votes				152,353			152,564
Turnout				153,769	71.1	1.0
	CDU hold		Majority	68,593	45.0	1.8

Federal election (2009): Cloppenburg – Vechta[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 Franz-Josef Holzenkamp		91,686	62.3	2.2	80,355	54.5	2.7
	SPD	Gabriele Groneberg		28,053	19.1	7.5	24,358	16.5	8.8
	FDP	Peter Friedhoff		12,700	8.6	4.7	23,001	15.6	5.4
	Left	Markus Schalk		6,927	4.7	2.8	7,518	5.1	2.8
	Greens	Josef Dobelmann		6,575	4.5	2.1	7,827	5.3	2.0
	Pirates						1,953	1.3
	NPD	Cora Meyer		1,286	0.9	0.1	1,132	0.8	0.0
	Human Environment Animal Protection						766	0.5	0.1
	RRP						372	0.3
	ÖDP						108	0.1
	DVU						85	0.0
	MLPD						35	0.0
Informal votes				1,708			1,425
Total valid votes				147,227			147,510
Turnout				148,935	70.1	7.6
	CDU hold		Majority	63,633	43.2	5.3