Soest (electoral district)

145 Soest
145 Soest
Electoral district; for the Bundestag
	Soest in 2025
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Population	301,800 (2019)
Electorate	231,811 (2021)
Major settlements	Lippstadt; Soest; Werl
Area	1,328.6 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1980
Party	CDU
Member	Oliver Pöpsel
Elected	2025

StateNorth Rhine-Westphalia

Population301,800 (2019)

Electorate231,811 (2021)

Major settlementsLippstadt
Soest
Werl

Soest 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 145. It is located in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, comprising the district of Soest.^[1]

Soest was created for the 1980 federal election. From 2017 to 2025, it has been represented by Hans-Jürgen Thies of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).^[2] Since 2025 it is been represented by Oliver Pöpsel of the CDU.

[1]

[2]

	Member	Party	%
1980	Hermann Kroll-Schlüter	CDU	50.0
1983			56.3
1987			49.8
1990	Jürgen Augustinowitz	CDU	49.4
1994	Jürgen Augustinowitz	CDU	49.6
1998	Eike Hovermann	SPD	45.5
2002	Bernhard Schulte-Drüggelte	CDU	44.2
2005			46.3
2009			45.8
2013			49.8
2017	Hans-Jürgen Thies	CDU	42.7
2021	Hans-Jürgen Thies	CDU	33.1
2025	Oliver Pöpsel	CDU	37.3

Federal election (2025): Soest^[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 Oliver Pöpsel		70,482	37.3	4.2	66,360	35.0	6.0
	SPD	Jens Behrens		42,543	22.5	8.3	34,834	18.4	10.3
	AfD	Ulrich von Zons		36,667	19.4	11.5	35,823	18.9	10.9
	Greens	Sarah Gonschorek		18,136	9.6	2.9	19,040	10.0	3.5
	Left	Roland Linnhoff		11,204	5.9	2.8	11,577	6.1	3.0
	FDP	Fabian Griewel		7,447	3.9	6.1	7,681	4.1	7.8
	BSW						7,393	3.9
	Tierschutzpartei						2,273	1.2	1.0
	FW	Christine-Maria Hudyma		2,537	1.3	0.2	997	0.5	0.1
	PARTEI						1,013	0.5	0.4
	Volt						908	0.5	0.3
	dieBasis					1.4	523	0.3	0.9
	PdF						352	0.2	0.1
	Team Todenhöfer						270	0.1	0.1
	BD						244	0.1
	Values						96	0.1
	MERA25						46	0.0
	MLPD						35	0.0	0.0
	Pirates								0.4
	Gesundheitsforschung								0.1
	Bündnis C								0.1
	Humanists								0.1
	ÖDP								0.1
	SGP						13	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,479			1,030
Total valid votes				189,016			189,465
Turnout				190,495	83.0
	CDU hold		Majority	27,939	14.8	12.5

Federal election (2021): Soest^[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	Y Hans-Jürgen Thies		58,791	33.1	9.5	51,697	29.1	7.2
	SPD	Wolfgang Hellmich		54,614	30.8	1.5	51,061	28.7	3.8
	Greens	Shahabuddin Miah		22,154	12.5	7.0	24,089	13.5	7.4
	FDP	Fabian Griewel		17,826	10.0	2.1	21,005	11.8	1.6
	AfD	Berengar Elsner von Gronow		13,992	7.9	1.0	14,206	8.0	1.4
	Left	Helle Robert		5,548	3.1	2.5	5,520	3.1	3.7
	Tierschutzpartei						2,260	1.3	0.6
	dieBasis	Wolfgang Sälzer		2,507	1.4		2,038	1.1
	PARTEI						1,724	1.0	0.3
	FW	Christine-Maria Hudyma		2,017	1.1		1,176	0.7	0.4
	Pirates						666	0.4	0.0
	Team Todenhöfer						495	0.3
	Volt						327	0.2
	LIEBE						251	0.1
	Gesundheitsforschung						246	0.1	0.0
	LfK						173	0.1
	Bündnis C						159	0.1
	NPD						156	0.1	0.1
	Humanists						121	0.1	0.0
	ÖDP						118	0.1	0.0
	du.						89	0.1
	V-Partei3						89	0.0	0.1
	PdF						73	0.0
	LKR						34	0.0
	DKP						31	0.0	0.0
	SGP						13	0.0	0.0
	MLPD						12	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,554			1,174
Total valid votes				177,449			177,829
Turnout				179,003	77.2	2.2
	CDU hold		Majority	4,177	2.3	11.0

Federal election (2017): Soest^[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	Hans-Jürgen Thies		73,595	42.7	7.1	62,764	36.3	8.5
	SPD	Wolfgang Hellmich		50,458	29.3	4.1	43,184	25.0	5.4
	AfD	Berengar Elsner von Gronow		15,311	8.9		16,165	9.3	5.9
	FDP	Fabian Griewel		13,681	7.9	5.6	23,296	13.5	8.5
	Left	Robert Helle		9,756	5.7	0.7	11,702	6.8	1.5
	Greens	Shahabuddin Miah		9,459	5.5	0.5	10,723	6.2	0.8
	Tierschutzpartei						1,207	0.7
	PARTEI						1,183	0.7	0.4
	Pirates						634	0.4	1.7
	FW						387	0.2	0.1
	NPD						310	0.2	0.6
	Independent	Jonathan Meier		232	0.1
	AD-DEMOKRATEN						184	0.1
	DiB						183	0.1
	Gesundheitsforschung						176	0.1
	V-Partei³						175	0.1
	BGE						168	0.1
	DM						168	0.1
	Volksabstimmung						159	0.1	0.1
	ÖDP						149	0.1	0.0
	Die Humanisten						78	0.0
	MLPD						40	0.0	0.0
	DKP						28	0.0
	SGP						11	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,872			1,290
Total valid votes				172,492			173,074
Turnout				174,364	75.1	2.8
	CDU hold		Majority	23,137	13.4	3.1

Federal election (2013): Soest^[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 Bernhard Schulte-Drüggelte		82,394	49.8	4.0	74,380	44.8	8.2
	SPD	Wolfgang Hellmich		55,127	33.3	4.1	50,439	30.4	4.9
	Greens	Cordula Ungruh		9,868	6.0	1.3	11,565	7.0	1.7
	Left	Michael Bruns		8,267	5.0	2.0	8,721	5.2	2.4
	AfD						5,711	3.4
	Pirates	Sven Sladek		3,996	2.4		3,410	2.1	0.5
	FDP	Ingo Westermann		3,870	2.3	7.2	8,218	4.9	12.0
	NPD			1,954	1.2	0.1	1,321	0.8	0.0
	PARTEI						467	0.3
	Volksabstimmung						333	0.2	0.1
	PRO						330	0.2
	FW						229	0.1
	ÖDP						204	0.1	0.1
	REP						180	0.1	0.1
	Nichtwahler						192	0.1
	Party of Reason						101	0.1
	BIG						91	0.1
	RRP						86	0.1	0.1
	Die Rechte						59	0.0
	PSG						52	0.0	0.0
	BüSo						32	0.0	0.0
	MLPD						25	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,435			1,765
Total valid votes				165,476			166,146
Turnout				167,911	72.3	1.3
	CDU hold		Majority	27,267	16.5	0.1

Soest (electoral district)

History

Members

Election results

2025 election

2021 election

2017 election

2013 election

2009 election

2005 election

References

Related Articles

145 Soest
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Soest in 2025
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Population	301,800 (2019)
Electorate	231,811 (2021)
Major settlements	Lippstadt Soest Werl
Area	1,328.6 km²
Current electoral district
Created	1980
Party	CDU
Member	Oliver Pöpsel
Elected	2025

v t e Electoral districts of North Rhine-Westphalia in the German Bundestag
Current	Aachen I Aachen II Heinsberg Düren Rhein-Erft-Kreis I Euskirchen – Rhein-Erft-Kreis II Cologne I Cologne II Cologne III Bonn Rhein-Sieg-Kreis I Rhein-Sieg-Kreis II Oberbergischer Kreis Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis Leverkusen – Cologne IV Wuppertal I Solingen – Remscheid – Wuppertal II Mettmann I Mettmann II Düsseldorf I Düsseldorf II Neuss I Mönchengladbach Krefeld I – Neuss II Viersen Kleve Wesel I Krefeld II – Wesel II Duisburg I Duisburg II Oberhausen – Wesel III Mülheim – Essen I Essen II Essen III Recklinghausen I Recklinghausen II Gelsenkirchen Steinfurt I – Borken I Bottrop – Recklinghausen III Borken II Coesfeld – Steinfurt II Steinfurt III Münster Warendorf Gütersloh I Bielefeld – Gütersloh II Herford – Minden-Lübbecke II Minden-Lübbecke I Lippe I Höxter – Gütersloh III – Lippe II Paderborn Hagen – Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis I Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis II Bochum I Herne – Bochum II Dortmund I Dortmund II Unna I Hamm – Unna II Soest Hochsauerlandkreis Siegen-Wittgenstein Olpe – Märkischer Kreis I Märkischer Kreis II
Other states	Baden-Württemberg Bavaria‎ Berlin Brandenburg‎ Bremen Hamburg‎ Hesse Lower Saxony Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Rhineland-Palatinate‎ Saarland Saxony‎ Saxony-Anhalt‎ Schleswig-Holstein‎ Thuringia‎
See also	List of Bundestag constituencies Elections in Germany