Elbe-Elster – Oberspreewald-Lausitz

Elbe-Elster – Oberspreewald-Lausitz 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 65. It is located in southern Brandenburg, comprising the districts of Elbe-Elster and Oberspreewald-Lausitz.

65 Elbe-Elster – Oberspreewald-Lausitz
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Elbe-Elster – Oberspreewald-Lausitz in 2025
State	Brandenburg
Population	195,200 (2019)
Electorate	162,410 (2021)
Major settlements	Senftenberg Finsterwalde Lauchhammer
Area	2,844.52 km2
Current electoral district
Created	2002
Party	SPD
Member	Hannes Walter
Elected	2021

Elbe-Elster – Oberspreewald-Lausitz was created for the 2002 federal election. Since 2021, it has been represented by Hannes Walter of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

Geography

Elbe-Elster – Oberspreewald-Lausitz is located in southern Brandenburg. As of the 2025 federal election, it comprises the Elbe-Elster district and the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district.

History

Elbe-Elster – Oberspreewald-Lausitz was created in 2002 and contained parts of the abolished constituencies of Senftenberg – Calau – Spremberg and Bad Liebenwerda – Finsterwalde – Herzberg – Lübben – Luckau. In the 2002 and 2005 elections, it was constituency 65 in the numbering system. In the 2009 election, it was number 66. Since the 2013 election, it has been number 65. Until 2025, it excluded the municipality of Lübbenau.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
2002	65	Elbe-Elster – Oberspreewald-Lausitz II	Elbe-Elster district Oberspreewald-Lausitz district (excluding Lübbenau municipality)
2005
2009	66
2013	65
2017
2021
2025		Elbe-Elster – Oberspreewald-Lausitz	Elbe-Elster district Oberspreewald-Lausitz district

Members

The constituency was first represented by Stephan Hilsberg of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 2002 to 2009. Michael Stübgen of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) was elected in the 2009 election, and re-elected in 2013 and 2017. He resigned in November 2019 after being appointed to the state government of Brandenburg. Hannes Walter regained the constituency for the SPD in 2021.

Election		Member	Party	%
	2002	Stephan Hilsberg	SPD	44.5
	2005			34.8
	2009	Michael Stübgen	CDU	28.9
	2013			40.9
	2017			29.5
	2021	Hannes Walter	SPD	25.4

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Elbe-Elster – Oberspreewald-Lausitz II
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	Hannes Walter		29,998	25.4	8.7	33,412	28.2	12.8
	AfD	Silvio Wolf		29,560	25.0	0.3	29,849	25.2	0.0
	CDU	Knut Abraham		19,130	16.2	13.3	17,776	15.0	12.7
	Left	Yvonne Mahlo		10,630	9.0	7.2	8,532	7.2	8.3
	FDP	Martin Neumann		10,597	9.0	3.6	11,114	9.4	2.7
	Independent	Marcel Respa		5,066	4.3		2,022	1.7
	FW	Roxana Trasper		4,872	4.1	0.1	3,657	3.1	1.4
	Greens	Paul-Philipp Neumann		4,110	3.5	0.5	4,920	4.2	1.6
	Tierschutzpartei						2,564	2.2	0.6
	PARTEI	Bianca Schröder		2,245	1.9		1,383	1.2	0.2
	dieBasis	Kay-Uwe Blietz		1,719	1.5		1,449	1.2
	NPD						637	0.5	0.9
	Pirates						437	0.4
	Independent	Ilona Janda		356	0.3
	Volt						194	0.2
	Team Todenhöfer						156	0.1
	ÖDP						128	0.1	0.0
	DKP						92	0.1	0.0
	Humanists						87	0.1
	MLPD						55	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,068			1,887
Total valid votes				118,283			118,464
Turnout				120,351	74.1	0.9
	SPD gain from CDU		Majority	438	0.4

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Elbe-Elster – Oberspreewald-Lausitz II
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 Michael Stübgen		35,633	29.5	11.4	33,576	27.7	11.8
	AfD	Peter Holger Drenske		29,830	24.7		30,564	25.2	19.3
	SPD	Hannes Walter		20,142	16.7	5.9	18,700	15.4	4.4
	Left	Diana Tietze		19,583	16.2	7.2	18,775	15.5	6.2
	FDP	Martin Neumann		6,492	5.4	3.6	8,128	6.7	4.2
	FW	Johannes Berger		4,887	4.0		2,089	1.7	0.8
	Greens	Stefan Schön		3,543	2.9	0.4	3,146	2.6	0.1
	Tierschutzpartei						1,878	1.6
	NPD						1,757	1.5	2.3
	PARTEI						1,207	1.0
	Independent	Ingo Weidelt		738	0.6
	DM						555	0.5
	BGE						421	0.3
	ÖDP						150	0.1
	MLPD						108	0.1	0.0
	DKP						100	0.1
Informal votes				2,517			2,211
Total valid votes				120,848			121,154
Turnout				123,365	73.2	6.4
	CDU hold		Majority	5,803	4.8	12.7

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Elbe-Elster – Oberspreewald-Lausitz II
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 Michael Stübgen		47,454	40.9	12.0	46,044	39.5	12.1
	Left	Matthias Mnich		27,137	23.4	4.9	25,321	21.7	6.3
	SPD	Kerstin Weide		26,132	22.5	4.4	23,136	19.9	3.1
	AfD						6,911	5.9
	NPD	Manuela Kokott		5,608	4.8	0.3	4,421	3.8	0.7
	Pirates	Lutz Bommel		3,834	3.3		2,626	2.3	0.2
	Greens	Klaus Ullrich		2,899	2.5	0.7	3,104	2.7	0.8
	FDP	Carmen Schulz		2,085	1.8	5.2	2,950	2.5	6.4
	FW						1,122	1.0
	Independent	Kevin Jonik		540	0.5
	PRO						531	0.5
	DKP	Wilfried Klare		323	0.3
	REP						196	0.2	0.1
	MLPD						153	0.1	0.0
Informal votes				2,668			2,165
Total valid votes				116,012			116,515
Turnout				118,680	66.8	1.3
	CDU hold		Majority	20,317	17.5	16.9

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Elbe-Elster – Oberspreewald-Lausitz II
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	Michael Stübgen		35,073	28.9	3.0	33,467	27.4	3.6
	Left	André Brie		34,324	28.3	2.4	34,203	28.0	0.7
	SPD	Thomas Zenker		32,688	26.9	7.9	28,022	22.9	8.7
	FDP	Enrico Buchs		8,487	7.0	1.4	10,865	8.9	1.7
	NPD	Manuela Kokott		5,513	4.5	0.8	3,839	3.1	1.8
	Greens	Christoph Wunnicke		3,861	3.2	0.7	4,238	3.5	0.2
	Pirates						2,995	2.5
	DVU						2,399	2.0
	FWD						1,435	1.2
	Freie Union	Harald Klingenberg		915	0.8
	Independent	Andreas Brückner		587	0.5
	REP						278	0.2
	BüSo						270	0.2
	MLPD						137	0.1	0.2
Informal votes				4,692			3,992
Total valid votes				121,448			122,148
Turnout				126,140	65.5	9.0
	CDU gain from SPD		Majority	749	0.6