Hildesheim (electoral district)

48 Hildesheim
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Hildesheim in 2025
State	Lower Saxony
Population	275,800 (2019)
Electorate	215,131 (2021)
Major settlements	Hildesheim
Area	1,208.3 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	SPD
Member	Bernd Westphal
Elected	2017, 2021

Hildesheim 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 48. It is located in southern Lower Saxony, comprising the district of Hildesheim.

Hildesheim was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2017, it has been represented by Bernd Westphal of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

Geography

Hildesheim is located in southern Lower Saxony. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the district of Hildesheim.

History

Hildesheim was created in 1949, then known as Hildesheim-Stadt und -Land. It acquired its current name in the 1965 election. In the inaugural Bundestag election, it was Lower Saxony constituency 26 in the numbering system. From 1953 through 1961, it was number 48. From 1965 through 1998, it was number 43. In the 2002 and 2005 elections, it was number 48. In the 2009 election, it was number 49. Since the 2013 election, it has been number 48.

Originally, the constituency comprised the independent city of Hildesheim and the district of Hildesheim-Marienburg. In the 1976 election, it compromised the district of Hildesheim without the municipality of Nordstemmen. Since the 1980 election, it has comprised the entirety of the district of Hildesheim.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	26	Hildesheim-Stadt und -Land	Hildesheim city Hildesheim-Marienburg district
1953	48
1957
1961
1965	43	Hildesheim
1969
1972
1976			Hildesheim (excluding Nordstemmen municipality)
1980			Hildesheim
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	48
2005
2009	49
2013	48
2017
2021
2025

Members

The constituency was first held by Heinrich-Wilhelm Ruhnke of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), who served from 1949 to 1953. Adolf Cillien of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won it in 1953 and served a single term. He was succeeded by fellow CDU member Theodor Oberländer, who also served a single term. Friedrich Kühn of the CDU was elected in 1961 and re-elected in 1965. Joachim Raffert regained the constituency for the SPD in 1969. In 1972, he was succeeded by Hermann Rappe. He served until 1998, when fellow SPD member Bernhard Brinkmann was elected. He served four terms as representative. In 2013, Ute Bertram of the CDU was elected. In 2017, Bernd Westphal regained the constituency for the SPD.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	Heinrich-Wilhelm Ruhnke	SPD	31.1
	1953	Adolf Cillien	CDU	45.7
	1957	Theodor Oberländer	CDU	46.2
	1961	Friedrich Kühn	CDU	41.0
	1965			46.5
	1969	Joachim Raffert	SPD	48.2
	1972	Hermann Rappe	SPD	54.3
	1976			49.3
	1980			53.4
	1983			48.4
	1987			49.0
	1990			47.4
	1994			50.0
	1998	Bernhard Brinkmann	SPD	54.3
	2002			53.5
	2005			51.0
	2009			39.0
	2013	Ute Bertram	CDU	42.3
	2017	Bernd Westphal	SPD	37.2
	2021			38.7

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Hildesheim
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	Y Bernd Westphal		61,857	38.7	1.5	55,439	34.7	3.8
	CDU	Ute Bertram		41,230	25.8	10.2	36,504	22.8	9.8
	Greens	Ottmar von Holtz		22,973	14.4	6.8	26,565	16.6	7.8
	FDP	Henrik Jacobs		11,507	7.2	1.6	15,397	9.6	1.4
	AfD	Frank Rinck		11,387	7.1	1.5	12,161	7.6	1.7
	Left	Rita Krüger		5,481	3.4	1.6	5,308	3.3	3.2
	Tierschutzpartei						2,030	1.3	0.3
	dieBasis	Michael Fritsch		2,153	1.3		1,628	1.0
	PARTEI						1,432	0.9	0.0
	Pirates	Phil Höfer		1,506	0.9		793	0.5	0.1
	FW	Heinrich Kalvelage		1,420	0.9		1,054	0.7	0.4
	Team Todenhöfer						416	0.3
	Volt						309	0.2
	NPD						160	0.1	0.2
	ÖDP	Henry Kucz		264	0.2		143	0.1	0.0
	Independent	Otwin Herzig		201	0.1
	V-Partei3						125	0.1	0.1
	du.						115	0.1
	Humanists						99	0.1
	DKP						37	0.0	0.0
	MLPD						32	0.0	0.0
	LKR						31	0.0
	Independent	Reinhard Wieczorek		30	0.0
Informal votes				1,676			1,907
Total valid votes				160,009			159,778
Turnout				161,685	75.2	2.5
	SPD hold		Majority	20,627	12.9	11.7

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Hildesheim
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	Bernd Westphal		62,448	37.2	4.1	52,077	30.9	5.4
	CDU	N Ute Bertram		60,457	36.0	6.3	54,871	32.6	6.1
	AfD	Claus Grugelke		14,433	8.6		15,695	9.3	5.9
	Greens	Ottmar von Holtz		12,691	7.6	0.9	14,806	8.8	0.2
	FDP	Henrik Jacobs		9,330	5.6	4.0	13,876	8.2	4.8
	Left	Orhan Kara		8,502	5.1	0.2	10,932	6.5	1.5
	Tierschutzpartei						1,693	1.0	0.3
	PARTEI						1,445	0.9
	Pirates						593	0.4	1.4
	NPD						468	0.3	0.6
	FW						453	0.3	0.0
	BGE						320	0.2
	DM						305	0.2
	DiB						304	0.2
	V-Partei³						221	0.1
	ÖDP						150	0.1
	MLPD						56	0.0	0.0
	DKP						32	0.0
Informal votes				1,752			1,316
Total valid votes				167,861			168,297
Turnout				169,613	77.7	2.6
	SPD gain from CDU		Majority	1,991	1.2

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Hildesheim
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	Ute Bertram		68,653	42.3	5.8	63,041	38.7	6.8
	SPD	Bernd Westphal		66,986	41.3	2.2	59,319	36.4	3.5
	Greens	Brigitte Pothmer		13,771	8.5	0.5	14,587	8.9	1.5
	Left	Lars Leopold		7,909	4.9	2.0	8,120	5.0	3.1
	AfD						5,601	3.4
	NPD	Kerstin Breckel		2,537	1.6	0.0	1,482	0.9	0.6
	FDP	Bernd Fell		2,489	1.5	4.7	5,589	3.4	7.9
	Pirates						2,937	1.8	0.1
	Tierschutzpartei						1,208	0.7	0.1
	FW						455	0.3
	PRO						384	0.2
	PBC						151	0.1
	REP						92	0.1
	MLPD						31	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,451			1,799
Total valid votes				162,345			162,997
Turnout				164,796	75.1	0.1
	CDU gain from SPD		Majority	1,667	1.0

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Hildesheim
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	Y Bernhard Brinkmann		64,555	39.0	11.9	54,487	32.9	14.1
	CDU	Eckart von Klaeden		60,376	36.5	0.3	52,747	31.8	0.6
	Greens	Brigitte Pothmer		14,856	9.0	4.2	17,360	10.5	3.4
	Left	Michael Huffer		11,402	6.9	3.8	13,429	8.1	4.3
	FDP	Bernd Fell		10,231	6.2	3.4	18,752	11.3	4.1
	Pirates						3,191	1.9
	NPD	Ricarda Riefling		2,606	1.6	0.3	2,452	1.5	0.2
	RRP	Wolfgang Weinsziehr		1,293	0.8		1,520	0.9
	Tierschutzpartei						1,405	0.8	0.3
	ÖDP						171	0.1
	DVU						152	0.1
	MLPD						52	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,201			1,802
Total valid votes				165,319			165,718
Turnout				167,520	75.2	6.3
	SPD hold		Majority	4,179	2.5	11.6