Gießen (electoral district)

172 Gießen
172 Gießen
Electoral district; for the Bundestag
	Gießen in 2025
State	Hesse
Population	293,600 (2019)
Electorate	217,514 (2021)
Major settlements	Giessen; Pohlheim; Alsfeld
Area	1,343.3 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	SPD
Member	Felix Döring
Elected	2021

Gießen 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 172. It is located in central Hesse, comprising the Gießen district and the northwestern part of the Vogelsbergkreis district.^[1]

Gießen was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2021, it has been represented by Felix Döring of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).^[2]

Geography[edit]

Gießen is located in central Hesse. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the entirety of the Gießen district excluding the municipalities of Biebertal and Wettenberg, as well as the municipalities of Alsfeld, Antrifttal, Feldatal, Gemünden (Felda), Homberg (Ohm), Kirtorf, Mücke, and Romrod from the Vogelsbergkreis district.^[1]

History[edit]

Gießen was created in 1949. In the 1949 election, it was Hesse constituency 8 in the numbering system. In the 1953 through 1976 elections, it was number 133. From 1980 through 1998, it was number 131. In 2002 and 2005, it was number 175. In the 2009 election, it was number 174. In the 2013 through 2021 elections, it was number 173. From the 2025 election, it has been number 172.

Originally, the constituency comprised the independent city of Gießen and the districts of Landkreis Gießen and Alsfeld. In the 1980 through 1998 elections, it comprised the entirety of Gießen district as well as the municipalities of Alsfeld, Antrifttal, Feldatal, Gemünden (Felda), Grebenau, Homberg (Ohm), Kirtorf, Mücke, Romrod, Schwalmtal from the Vogelbergskreis district. In the 2002 election, it acquired borders very similar to its current configuration, but including the municipalities of Grebenau, Schotten, and Schwalmtal from Vogelsbergkreis district. It acquired its current borders in the 2013 election.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	8	Gießen	Gießen city Landkreis Gießen district Alsfeld district
1953	133
1957
1961
1965
1969
1972
1976
1980	130		Gießen district Vogelsbergkreis district (only Alsfeld, Antrifttal, Feldatal, Gemünden (Felda), Grebenau, Homberg (Ohm), Kirtorf, Mücke, Romrod, and Schwalmtal municipality)
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	175		Gießen district (excluding Biebertal and Wettenberg municipalities) Vogelsbergkreis district (only Alsfeld, Antrifttal, Feldatal, Gemünden (Felda), Grebenau, Homberg (Ohm), Kirtorf, Mücke, Romrod, Schotten, and Schwalmtal municipalities)
2005	175
2009	174
2013	173		Gießen district (excluding Biebertal and Wettenberg municipalities) Vogelsbergkreis district (only Alsfeld, Antrifttal, Feldatal, Gemünden (Felda), Homberg (Ohm), Kirtorf, Mücke, and Romrod municipalities)
2017
2021
2025	172

Members[edit]

The constituency was first represented by Ludwig Schneider of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) from 1949 to 1957. Hans Merten [de] of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) was elected in 1957 and served until 1969. He was succeeded by fellow SPD member Erwin Horn. Adolf Roth [de] of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) was elected in 1983, but former member Horn regained the constituency in 1987 and served a further three terms. He was succeeded by fellow SPD member Rüdiger Veit in 1998, who served until 2009. Helge Braun of the CDU was elected in 2009, and re-elected in 2013 and 2017. Felix Döring regained the constituency for the SPD in 2021.

	Member	Party	%
1949	Ludwig Schneider [de]	FDP	39.5
1953	Ludwig Schneider [de]	FDP	34.1
1957	Hans Merten [de]	SPD	38.3
1961			42.4
1965			47.3
1969	Erwin Horn [de]	SPD	49.8
1972			53.3
1976			47.4
1980			50.3
1983	Adolf Roth [de]	CDU	47.5
1987	Erwin Horn [de]	SPD	43.3
1990			41.6
1994			42.3
1998	Rüdiger Veit	SPD	46.4
2002			45.3
2005			43.3
2009	Helge Braun	CDU	36.7
2013			44.4
2017			35.1
2021	Felix Döring	SPD	30.4

Election results[edit]

2021 election[edit]

Federal election (2021): Gießen^[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	%	±%
	SPD	Felix Döring		48,514	30.4	2.2	44,046	27.6	3.7
	CDU	N Helge Braun		47,283	29.6	5.5	36,201	22.7	7.5
	Greens	Behzad Borhani		21,249	13.3	5.0	26,109	16.3	6.7
	AfD	Uwe Schulz		14,496	9.1	2.5	14,836	9.3	3.1
	FDP	Dennis Pucher		12,109	7.6	0.1	17,106	10.7	0.4
	Left	Ali Al-Dailami		6,339	4.0	2.3	8,028	5.0	3.4
	FW	Diego Semmler		4,595	2.9	0.9	3,697	2.3	1.0
	Tierschutzpartei						2,301	1.4	0.5
	PARTEI	Darwin Walter		3,003	1.9		1,818	1.1	0.1
	dieBasis	Stephan Krüdener		1,954	1.2		1,892	1.2
	Volt						898	0.6
	Team Todenhöfer						632	0.4
	Pirates						555	0.3	0.1
	Bündnis C						251	0.2
	ÖDP						251	0.2	0.1
	NPD						235	0.1	0.3
	Gesundheitsforschung						216	0.1
	Humanists						211	0.1
	V-Partei3						177	0.1	0.1
	DKP	Henning Mächerle		233	0.1	0.0	117	0.1	0.0
	Bündnis 21						50	0.0
	LKR						41	0.0
	MLPD						34	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,144			2,217
Total valid votes				159,775			159,702
Turnout				161,919	74.4	2.1
	SPD gain from CDU		Majority	1,231	0.8

2017 election[edit]

Federal election (2017): Gießen^[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 Helge Braun		57,610	35.1	9.3	49,518	30.1	8.5
	SPD	Matthias Körner		46,216	28.2	7.3	39,252	23.9	5.8
	AfD	Uwe Schulz		18,918	11.5		20,358	12.4	7.5
	Greens	Eva Goldbach		13,619	8.3	1.0	15,898	9.7	0.0
	FDP	Hermann Otto Solms		12,641	7.7	4.7	16,926	10.3	5.4
	Left	Ali Abass Al-Dailami		10,346	6.3	1.2	13,798	8.4	1.9
	FW	Diego Semmler		3,190	1.9		2,170	1.3	0.0
	PARTEI						1,967	1.2	0.7
	Tierschutzpartei						1,572	1.0
	NPD	Thassilo Hantusch		603	0.4	1.3	751	0.5	0.8
	Pirates						654	0.4	1.7
	ÖDP						384	0.2
	Independent	Peter Klis		376	0.2
	BGE						271	0.2
	V-Partei³						268	0.2
	DM						254	0.2
	MLPD	Wanja Lange		405	0.2		109	0.1	0.0
	DKP	Henning Mächerle		234	0.1		119	0.1
	BüSo						44	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,463			2,308
Total valid votes				164,158			164,313
Turnout				166,621	76.5	3.7
	CDU hold		Majority	11,394	6.9	2.0

2013 election[edit]

Federal election (2013): Gießen^[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	Y Helge Braun		67,587	44.4	7.7	59,062	38.7	7.6
	SPD	Rüdiger Veit		54,028	35.5	1.2	45,299	29.7	2.4
	Greens	Tom Koenigs		11,186	7.3	1.5	14,759	9.7	2.1
	AfD						7,444	4.9
	Left	Ali Abass Al-Dailami		7,802	5.1	1.8	9,928	6.5	2.5
	FDP	Hermann Otto Solms		4,543	3.0	8.0	7,553	4.9	10.8
	Pirates	Sascha Endlicher		3,949	2.6		3,268	2.1	0.3
	FW						1,982	1.3
	NPD	Volker Sachs		2,483	1.6	0.2	1,977	1.3	0.2
	PARTEI						759	0.5
	Independent	Peter Klis		724	0.5
	REP						273	0.2	0.2
	PRO						183	0.1
	BüSo						93	0.1	0.1
	PSG						84	0.1
	MLPD						59	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				4,350			3,929
Total valid votes				152,302			152,723
Turnout				156,652	72.8	0.1
	CDU hold		Majority	13,559	8.9	6.4

2009 election[edit]

Federal election (2009): Gießen^[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	Helge Braun		59,441	36.7	1.1	50,276	31.0	1.0
	SPD	N Rüdiger Veit		55,331	34.2	9.1	44,222	27.3	9.1
	FDP	Hermann Otto Solms		17,928	11.1	3.9	25,687	15.8	3.5
	Greens	Tom Koenigs		14,140	8.7	3.5	18,853	11.6	1.6
	Left	Jonas Ahlgrimm		11,399	7.0	2.3	14,605	9.0	3.2
	Pirates						3,962	2.4
	NPD	Volker Sachs		2,328	1.4	0.2	1,853	1.1	0.2
	Tierschutzpartei						1,528	0.9	0.2
	Independent	Peter Klis		1,253	0.8
	REP						701	0.4	0.4
	BüSo						193	0.1	0.0
	DVU						158	0.1
	MLPD						46	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				3,848			3,584
Total valid votes				161,820			162,084
Turnout				165,668	72.5	4.8
	CDU gain from SPD		Majority	4,110	2.5

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b "Constituency Gießen". Federal Returning Officer.
^ "Results for Gießen". Federal Returning Officer.
^ Results for Gießen
^ Results for Gießen
^ Results for Gießen
^ Results for Gießen

[Area-1] "Constituency Gießen". Federal Returning Officer.

[2] "Results for Gießen". Federal Returning Officer.

[3] Results for Gießen

[4] Results for Gießen

[5] Results for Gießen

[6] Results for Gießen

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

v t e Electoral districts of Hesse in the German Bundestag
Current	Waldeck Kassel Werra-Meißner – Hersfeld-Rotenburg Schwalm-Eder Marburg Lahn-Dill Gießen Fulda Main-Kinzig – Wetterau II – Schotten Hochtaunus Wetterau I Rheingau-Taunus – Limburg Wiesbaden Hanau Main-Taunus Frankfurt am Main I Frankfurt am Main II Groß-Gerau Offenbach Darmstadt Odenwald Bergstraße
Other states	Baden-Württemberg Bavaria‎ Berlin Brandenburg‎ Bremen Hamburg‎ Lower Saxony Mecklenburg-Vorpommern North Rhine-Westphalia Rhineland-Palatinate‎ Saarland Saxony Saxony-Anhalt‎ Schleswig-Holstein‎ Thuringia‎
See also	List of Bundestag constituencies Elections in Germany