Landtag constituency Märkischer Kreis II

Constituency 122: Märkischer Kreis II
Country	Germany
state	North Rhine-Westphalia
Constituency number	122
Eligible voters	102.281
voter turnout	62.2%
Election date	May 14, 2017
Constituency representative
Surname	Marco Voge
Political party	CDU
Voting share	43.2%

The state constituency of Märkischer Kreis II is a state constituency in North Rhine-Westphalia . It includes the cities of Menden (Sauerland) , Hemer , Balve , Neuenrade and Plettenberg , which all belong to the Märkischer Kreis . The constituency number is currently 122.

Until 2000 the constituency consisted of the towns of Halver , Kierspe , Schalksmühle and Lüdenscheid (WK 149). Then Menden, Hemer, Neuenrade Balve and formed the constituency Märkischer Kreis IV , Plettenberg part of the constituency Märkischer Kreis I .

State election 2017

Direct candidate	Political party	First votes	Second votes
Inge Blask	SPD	32.7%	30.4%
Marco Voge	CDU	43.2%	37.3%
Jörg Pyzalla	GREEN	3.1%	3.9%
Stefan Weige	FDP	9.3%	12.4%
Andreas Berg	PIRATES	1.7%	0.8%
Christoph Diederich	LEFT	3.7%	3.3%
Rainer Schwanebeck	AfD	6.3%	8.4%
-	Others	-	3.4%

In addition to Marco Voge (CDU), who was elected directly for the first time and was able to win the constituency back from the SPD after five years, no other candidate from the constituency was elected to the state parliament for the time being. The previous constituency member Inge Blask (SPD) was initially not enough at 17th place on the state list of her party. However, on March 19, 2018, she moved back to the state parliament for her party friend Svenja Schulze , who was appointed Federal Environment Minister.

State election 2012

Direct candidate	Political party	First votes	Second votes
Wolfgang Exler	CDU	38.3%	30.3%
Inge Blask	SPD	38.8%	38.6%
Peter Koehler	GREEN	7.3%	8.1%
Sebastian Kraatz	FDP	4.4%	8.0%
Thomas Thiesmann	LEFT	2.2%	2.1%
Marc Slater	PIRATES	9.0%	8.5%
-	Others	-	4.5%

With Wolfgang Exler and Inge Blask, the two major parties sent the same candidates into the race as two years earlier in the early elections in 2012 . Peter Köhler from the Greens also ran again. New applicants for a direct mandate were Sebastian Kraatz for the FDP, Thomas Thiesmann for the Left and Marc Schieferdecker for the Pirate Party, who, in contrast to the previous election, was able to collect the necessary number of supporter signatures. 105,625 residents were entitled to vote, of which 57.1 percent took part in the election.

On the evening of the election, a head-to-head race developed between Exler and Blask, which remained open almost until the last electoral district was counted. In the end, Blask prevailed with a lead of 281 votes and thus entered the state parliament as a directly elected member. Exler lost his mandate and left the NRW parliament. The other constituency candidates did not move into the state parliament either.

The SPD also won the second vote. She received 38.6 percent, which roughly corresponded to the overall result in North Rhine-Westphalia. Despite losses, the CDU was 30.3 percent above the national result. The third strongest force was the pirates with 8.5 percent, ahead of the Greens (8.1 percent) and the FDP (8.0 percent). 2.2 percent of the vote went to the left.

State election 2010

Direct candidate	Political party	First votes	Second votes
Wolfgang Exler	CDU	43.9%	39.1%
Inge Blask	SPD	35.3%	33.0%
Markus Salzer	FDP	5.2%	6.9%
Peter Koehler	GREEN	8.4%	8.8%
Peter Severin	LEFT	5.3%	5.1%
a candidate ( NPD )	Others	1.9%	7.3%

Wolfgang Exler from Menden stood for the CDU in 2010 after the previous MP Hubert Schulte announced that he would not run again for health reasons. Exler received more votes than the two competitors at a constituency conference. Inge Blask from Hemeran ran for the SPD, who also prevailed in a vote against the state parliament member Jürgen Antoni. Markus Sälzer was chosen as the FDP candidate, while Peter Köhler ran for the Greens. At the time, both were parliamentary group leaders of their party in the Menden city council. As parties not previously represented in the state parliament, Die Linke (Peter Severin) and the NPD (Sascha Hellerfort) sent direct candidates into the race. Marc Schieferdecker was supposed to run for the Pirate Party , but did not collect enough supporters' signatures, so that he was not approved by the district election committee.

In the state elections in 2010, those eligible to vote in North Rhine-Westphalia had two votes for the first time, the first of which was for the respective direct candidate. Of the first votes, 43.9 percent went to Wolfgang Exler, who was thus able to defend the constituency for the CDU. Inge Blask got 35.3 percent and like the other constituency applicants did not enter the state parliament. The CDU received 39.1 percent of the second votes (almost five points more than the national average), while 33.0 percent of the voters voted for the SPD (around 1.5 percentage points less than in the entire electoral area). The Greens reached 8.8 percent, the FDP 6.9 percent and the Left 5.1 percent. The turnout was 56.3 percent with 106,577 eligible voters.

State election 2005

Direct candidate	Political party	be right
Jürgen Antoni	SPD	33.2%
Hubert Schulte	CDU	50.8%
Olaf Stracke	FDP	6.5%
Dietrich Maurer	GREEN	3.7%
five candidates	Others	5.7%

Hubert Schulte, member of the state parliament from Menden, ran for the CDU and won the direct mandate with a lead of over 17 percentage points . The SPD candidate for the second time was Jürgen Antoni from Balver who moved up to the state parliament for Michael Groschek on the reserve list in 2009 . The other candidates for a direct mandate did not move into the state parliament. Egbert Geiecke from Hemer wanted to run as a Republican candidate in the Märkischer Kreis II constituency. However, due to inconsistencies in the supporting signatures , the proposal was not approved and the Republicans were on the ballot paper with no direct candidates. 107,564 residents were eligible to vote. The turnout was 60.5 percent.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Allocation of constituencies . State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia. Retrieved December 6, 2012.
2. ↑ 2012 election results ( memento of December 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on May 16, 2012
3. ↑ Westfalenpost : " Exler wins battle for CDU state parliament candidacy ", published on January 26, 2009, accessed on January 30, 2010
4. ^ WP Balve: “ Inge Blask prevails against Jürgen Antoni ”, published on November 12, 2009, accessed on January 30, 2010
5. ^ WP Menden: " State election: Lendring candidate not allowed ", published and accessed on March 25, 2010
6. ^ Election results from 2010 ( Memento of December 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on May 16, 2012
7. ↑ Constituency applicants 2005 ( Memento of October 3, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file), accessed on January 27, 2010
8. ↑ 2005 election results
9. ^ Portrait of Jürgen Antonis on the Landtag website , accessed on January 27, 2010