Kassel (electoral district)

Kassel 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 168. It is located in northern Hesse, comprising the city of Kassel and surrounding parts of the Landkreis Kassel district.[1]

168 Kassel
electoral district for the Bundestag
Kassel in 2013
State	Hesse
Population	299,300 (2015)
Electorate	222,451 (2017)
Major settlements	Kassel
Area	357.6 km^2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	SPD
Member	Timon Gremmels
Elected	2017

Kassel was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2017, it has been represented by Timon Gremmels of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).[2]

Geography

Kassel is located in northern Hesse. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the independent city of Kassel and the municipalities of Ahnatal, Espenau, Fuldabrück, Fuldatal, Helsa, Kaufungen, Lohfelden, Nieste, Niestetal, Söhrewald, and Vellmar from the Landkreis Kassel district.[1]

History

Kassel was created in 1949. In the 1949 election, it was Hesse constituency 2 in the numbering system. From 1953 through 1976, it was number 127. From 1980 through 1998, it was number 125. In the 2002 and 2005 elections, it was number 170. In the 2009 election, it was number 169. Since 2013, it has been number 168.

Originally, the constituency comprised the independent city of Kassel and the Landkreis Kassel district. In the 1965 and 1969 elections, it comprised the city of Kassel and the municipalities of Frommershausen, Heckershausen, Ihringshausen, Knickhagen, Mönchehof, Niedervellmar, Obervellmar, Rothwesten, Simmershausen, Wahnhausen, Ahnatal-Weimar, and Wilhelmshausen from Landkreis Kassel. In the 1972 through 1998 elections, it comprised the city of Kassel and the municipalities of Ahnatal, Espenau, Fuldatal, and Vellmar from Landkreis Kassel. It acquired its current borders in the 2002 election.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	2	Kassel	Kassel city Landkreis Kassel district
1953	127
1957
1961
1965			Kassel city Landkreis Kassel district (only Frommershausen, Heckershausen, Ihringshausen, Knickhagen, Mönchehof, Niedervellmar, Obervellmar, Rothwesten, Simmershausen, Wahnhausen, Ahnatal-Weimar, and Wilhelmshausen municipalities)
1969
1972			Kassel city Landkreis Kassel district (only Ahnatal, Espenau, Fuldatal, and Vellmar municipalities)
1976
1980	125
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	170		Kassel city Landkreis Kassel district (only Ahnatal, Espenau, Fuldabrück, Fuldatal, Helsa, Kaufungen, Lohfelden, Nieste, Niestetal, Söhrewald, and Vellmar municipalities)
2005
2009	169
2013	168
2017
2021

Members

The constituency has been held continuously by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) since its creation. It was first represented by Georg-August Zinn from 1949 until his resignation in 1951 to become Minister-President of Hesse. He was succeeded by Ludwig Preller after a by-election. Holger Börner was elected in 1957 and served until 1976, when he resigned to become Minister-President of Hesse. Horst Peter was then representative from 1980 to 1994. Gerhard Rübenkönig was elected in 1994 and served until 2005. Former Minister-President of Hesse Hans Eichel then served a single term, before being succeeded by Ulrike Gottschalck in 2009. She was representative until 2017. Timon Gremmels was elected in the 2017 election.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	Georg-August Zinn	SPD	42.3
	1951	Ludwig Preller	SPD	55.1
	1953			43.8
	1957	Holger Börner	SPD	49.2
	1961			51.6
	1965			52.1
	1969			56.9
	1972			60.1
	1976			53.7
	1980	Horst Peter	SPD	53.3
	1983			51.4
	1987			47.7
	1990			46.9
	1994	Gerhard Rübenkönig	SPD	41.5
	1998			48.4
	2002			49.3
	2005	Hans Eichel	SPD	50.5
	2009	Ulrike Gottschalck	SPD	38.0
	2013			40.0
	2017	Timon Gremmels	SPD	35.6

Election results

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Kassel[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	Timon Gremmels		58,759	35.6	4.4	46,769	28.3	5.7
	CDU	Norbert Wett		44,425	26.9	8.3	41,736	25.2	5.7
	AfD	Manfred Günther Ernst Leopold Mattis		16,501	10.0		17,288	10.5	5.4
	Green	Boris Mijatovic		15,466	9.4	1.3	18,935	11.4	1.3
	Left	Torsten Felstehausen		14,472	8.8	0.4	18,677	11.3	2.5
	FDP	Matthias Nölke[lower-alpha 1]		9,759	5.9	3.9	15,046	9.1	5.1
	Tierschutzpartei						1,590	1.0
	PARTEI	Jan Schuster		2,180	1.3		1,589	1.0	0.5
	FW	Helmut Peter Heinz Paul		1,311	0.8		1,003	0.6	0.1
	Pirates	Robin Geddert		1,222	0.7	2.2	794	0.5	1.8
	Independent	Susanne Anita Holbein		566	0.3
	BGE						488	0.3
	NPD						417	0.3	0.5
	DM						360	0.2
	ÖDP						224	0.1
	V-Partei³						215	0.1
	MLPD	Michaela Elisabeth Theresia Jakob		313	0.2	0.0	184	0.1	0.0
	Independent	Eva-Maria Gent		304	0.2
	DKP						59	0.0
	BüSo						29	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,577			2,452
Total Valid votes				165,278			165,403
Turnout				167,855	75.5	3.9
	SPD hold		Majority	14,334	8.7	3.9

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Kassel[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	Ulrike Gottschalck		62,178	40.0	2.0	53,232	34.0	2.8
	CDU	Norbert Wett		54,674	35.2	4.8	48,361	30.9	5.4
	Green	Nicole Maisch		16,559	10.7	1.6	19,884	12.7	2.1
	Left	Kai Manuel Boeddinghaus		13,066	8.4	1.5	13,680	8.7	2.5
	AfD						7,977	5.1
	Pirates	Volker Berkhout		4,624	3.0		3,575	2.3	0.0
	FDP	Matthias Nölke		3,192	2.1	5.7	6,259	4.0	8.6
	NPD						1,218	0.8	0.0
	Independent	Herbert Wolfgang Dirk Stolte		845	0.5
	FW						839	0.5
	PARTEI						796	0.5
	REP						198	0.1	0.2
	PRO						155	0.1
	PSG						89	0.1
	BüSo						51	0.0	0.1
	MLPD	Joachim Karl Ludolf Gärtner		325	0.2	0.0	165	0.1	0.0
Informal votes				5,232			4,216
Total Valid votes				155,463			156,479
Turnout				160,695	71.6	0.8
	SPD hold		Majority	7,504	4.8	2.8

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Kassel[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	Ulrike Gottschalck		59,621	38.0	12.5	49,114	31.3	12.6
	CDU	Jürgen Gehb		47,643	30.4	0.2	40,134	25.5	1.0
	Green	Nicole Maisch		19,246	12.3	4.5	23,320	14.8	3.0
	Left	Norbert Domes		15,453	9.9	4.1	17,656	11.2	4.5
	FDP	Mechthild Dyckmans		12,188	7.8	3.8	19,820	12.6	4.4
	Pirates						3,523	2.2
	Tierschutzpartei						1,374	0.9	0.3
	NPD	Martin Radtke		1,594	1.0	0.1	1,275	0.8	0.1
	Independent	Olaf Petersen		715	0.5
	REP						470	0.3	0.2
	MLPD	Barbara Meyer		319	0.2	0.1	173	0.1	0.0
	BüSo						159	0.1	0.0
	DVU						112	0.1
Informal votes				4,254			3,903
Total Valid votes				156,779			157,130
Turnout				161,033	72.3	6.1
	SPD hold		Majority	11,978	7.6	12.3

Notes

1. Nölke entered the Bundestag on the FDP list after the resignation of Stefan Ruppert in April 2020.

References

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