Soest is an electoral constituency (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

: ''Wahlkreis'') represented in the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

. It elects one member via

first-past-the-post voting First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...

. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 145. It is located in eastern

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, comprising the district of Soest. 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). Since 2025 it is been represented by Oliver Pöpsel of the CDU.

Geography

Soest is located in eastern

. As of the 2021 federal election, it is coterminous with the Soest district.

History

Soest was created in 1980. In the 1980 through 1998 elections, it was constituency 118 in the numbering system. From 2002 through 2009, it was number 147. In the 2013 through 2021 elections, it was number 146. From the 2025 election, it has been number 145. Its borders have not changed since its creation.

Members

The constituency has been held by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) during all but one Bundestag term since its creation. It was first represented by Hermann Kroll-Schlüter from 1980 to 1990, followed by

Jürgen Augustinowitz Jürgen Augustinowitz (born 10 June 1964) is a German politician and former member of the German Bundestag. Life After secondary modern school he attended commercial school and then trained as a bank clerk. In 1985/86, he did his military ser ...

from 1990 to 1998. Eike Hovermann 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 Form ...

(SPD) was elected in 1998.

Bernhard Schulte-Drüggelte Bernhard is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar (1604–1639), Duke of Saxe-Weimar * Bernhard, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen (1901–1984), head of the House of Saxe-Meiningen 194 ...

regained it for the CDU in 2002 and served until 2017. Hans-Jürgen Thies was elected in 2017 and was re-elected in 2021. In 2025 Oliver Pöpsel was elected

Election results

2025 election

2021 election

2017 election

2013 election

2009 election

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soest (electoral district) Federal electoral districts in North Rhine-Westphalia 1980 establishments in West Germany Constituencies established in 1980 Soest (district)