Göttingen (electoral district)

Göttingen 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 53. It is located in southern Lower Saxony, comprising most of the Göttingen district.[1]

53 Göttingen
electoral district for the Bundestag
Göttingen in 2013
State	Lower Saxony
Population	286,800 (2015)
Electorate	220,420 (2017)
Major settlements	Göttingen Hann. Münden Duderstadt
Area	1,264.0 km^2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	SPD
Member	Vacant
Elected	N/A

Göttingen was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since October 2020, the constituency has been vacant. It was last represented by Thomas Oppermann of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 2005 until his death.[2]

Geography

Göttingen is located in southern Lower Saxony. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the district of Göttingen excluding the municipalities of Bad Grund, Osterode am Harz, and Walkenried, the Samtgemeinde of Hattorf am Harz, and the Harz area.[1]

History

Göttingen was created in 1949, then known as Göttingen – Münden. It acquired its current name in the 1965 election. In the inaugural Bundestag election, it was Lower Saxony constituency 34 in the numbering system. From 1953 through 1961, it was number 56. From 1965 through 1998, it was number 49. In the 2002 and 2005 elections, it was number 53. In the 2009 election, it was number 54. Since the 2013 election, it has been number 53.

Originally, the constituency comprised the independent city of Göttingen and the districts of Göttingen and Münden. In the 1965 through 1972 elections, it comprised the districts of Göttingen, Münden, and Duderstadt, and the municipality of Fürstenhagen from the Northeim district. In the 1976 election, it comprised the Göttingen and the municipality of Fürstenhagen from the Northeim district. In the 1980 through 1998 elections, it comprised only the district of Göttingen. In the 2002 though 2013 elections, it comprised the district of Göttingen and the municipalities of Bad Lauterberg, Bad Sachsa, and Herzberg am Harz from the district of Osterode. Osterode district was merged into Göttingen ahead of the 2017 election, but the constituency's borders did not change.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	34	Göttingen – Münden	Göttingen city Göttingen district Münden district
1953	56
1957
1961
1965	49	Göttingen	Göttingen district Münden district Duderstadt district Northeim district (only Fürstenhagen municipality)
1969
1972
1976			Göttingen district Northeim district (only Fürstenhagen municipality)
1980			Göttingen district
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	53		Göttingen district Osterode district (only Bad Lauterberg, Bad Sachsa, and Herzberg am Harz municipalities)
2005
2009	54
2013	53
2017			Göttingen district (excluding Bad Grund, Osterode am Harz, and Walkenried municipalities, Hattorf am Harz Samtgemeinde, and the Harz area)
2021

Members

The constituency was first held by Arno Hennig of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), who served from 1949 to 1953. Walter Drechsel of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) was elected in 1953 and served a single term. Franz Blücher, Vice-Chancellor of Germany and former chairman of the FDP, was elected as candidate for the German Party in 1957. He died in 1959, and was succeeded by Günter Frede of the SPD in the 1961 election. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won the constituency in 1965, and Willy Steinmetz served a single term as representative. Günter Wichert was elected in 1969 and served two terms. Fellow SPD member Lothar Curdt served from 1976 to 1983. In 1983, Hans Hugo Klein won the constituency for the CDU, and was succeeded in 1987 by Rita Süssmuth, also of the CDU. Süssmuth served as President of the Bundestag from 1988 to 1998. The SPD regained the constituency with candidate Inge Wettig-Danielmeier in 1998. In 2005, Thomas Oppermann was elected representative. He was re-elected in 2009, 2013, and 2017. Oppermann died in October 2020.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	Arno Hennig	SPD	31.6
	1953	Walter Drechsel	FDP	54.3
	1957	Franz Blücher	DP	39.5
	1961	Günter Frede	SPD	43.0
	1965	Willy Steinmetz	CDU	47.0
	1969	Günter Wichert	SPD	47.8
	1972			52.5
	1976	Lothar Curdt	SPD	46.3
	1980			47.9
	1983	Hans Hugo Klein	CDU	46.9
	1987	Rita Süssmuth	CDU	44.9
	1990			48.5
	1994			46.9
	1998	Inge Wettig-Danielmeier	SPD	48.2
	2002			47.4
	2005	Thomas Oppermann	SPD	46.8
	2009			36.8
	2013			40.4
	2017			34.9

Election results

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Göttingen[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 or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	SPD	Thomas Oppermann		59,032	34.9	5.5	47,871	28.3	4.8
	CDU	Fritz Güntzler		56,250	33.3	4.9	51,177	30.2	5.7
	Green	Jürgen Trittin		19,131	11.3	1.1	19,676	11.6	0.6
	AfD	Pierre Hillebrecht		11,870	7.0		13,446	7.9	4.2
	Left	Konrad Kelm		9,905	5.9	0.6	14,748	8.7	2.4
	FDP	Konstantin Kuhle		7,734	4.6	3.0	15,421	9.1	5.0
	PARTEI	Christian Prachar		2,159	1.3		1,776	1.0
	Tierschutzpartei						1,434	0.8	0.1
	FW	Rainer Nowak		1,458	0.9	0.5	1,063	0.6	0.2
	Pirates	Dana Maria Rotter		1,400	0.8	1.1	785	0.5	1.5
	NPD						423	0.2	0.5
	BGE						401	0.2
	DiB						315	0.2
	DM						253	0.1
	V-Partei³						224	0.1
	ÖDP						163	0.1
	MLPD	Kay Langemeier		169	0.1		76	0.0	0.0
	DKP						72	0.0
Informal votes				1,439			1,223
Total Valid votes				169,108			169,324
Turnout				170,547	77.4	2.7
	SPD hold		Majority	2,782	1.6	0.6

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Göttingen[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 or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	SPD	Thomas Oppermann		66,192	40.4	3.6	54,410	33.1	3.5
	CDU	Fritz Güntzler		62,558	38.2	3.8	59,000	35.9	7.1
	Green	Jürgen Trittin		16,740	10.2	2.8	20,076	12.2	2.2
	Left	Gerhard Nier		8,581	5.2	2.4	10,432	6.3	2.5
	AfD						6,121	3.7
	Pirates	Niels-Arne Münch		3,219	2.0		3,173	1.9	0.3
	FDP	Lutz Knopek		2,633	1.6	4.9	6,667	4.1	9.4
	FW	Theodor Sommer		2,187	1.3		1,427	0.9
	NPD	Marco Borrmann		1,730	1.1	0.4	1,280	0.8	0.5
	Tierschutzpartei						1,178	0.7	0.0
	PRO						234	0.1
	PBC						145	0.1
	REP						93	0.1
	MLPD						67	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,974			1,511
Total Valid votes				163,840			164,303
Turnout				165,814	74.7	0.5
	SPD hold		Majority	3,634	2.2	0.2

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Göttingen[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 or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	SPD	Thomas Oppermann		60,483	36.8	10.0	48,788	29.6	12.5
	CDU	Hartwig Fischer		56,503	34.4	1.3	47,343	28.8	1.7
	Green	Jürgen Trittin		21,360	13.0	5.2	23,708	14.4	3.7
	Left	Gerd Nier		12,493	7.6	3.3	14,635	8.9	3.7
	FDP	Lutz Knopek		10,765	6.6	3.0	22,086	13.4	4.5
	Pirates						3,707	2.3
	NPD	Michael Hahn		2,323	1.4	0.1	2,072	1.3	0.1
	Tierschutzpartei						1,176	0.7	0.2
	RRP						724	0.4
	Independent	Bayram Kurnaz		361	0.2
	ÖDP						195	0.1
	DVU						115	0.1
	MLPD						58	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,227			1,908
Total Valid votes				164,288			164,607
Turnout				166,515	74.2	5.6
	SPD hold		Majority	3,980	2.4	8.7

References

1. "Constituency Göttingen". Federal Returning Officer.
2. "Results for Göttingen". Federal Returning Officer.
3. Results for Göttingen
4. Results for Göttingen
5. Results for Göttingen