Göttingen is an electoral constituency (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

: ''Wahlkreis'') represented in the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Common ...

. It elects one member via

first-past-the-post voting In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 53. It is located in southern

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

, comprising most of the

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...

district. Göttingen was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2021, it has been represented by

Andreas Philippi Andreas Milan Gerhard Philippi (born 4 July 1965) is a German surgeon and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as State Minister of Social Affairs, Labour, Health and Equality in the government of Lower Saxony sinc ...

of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

(SPD).

Geography

Göttingen is located in southern

. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the district of Göttingen excluding the municipalities of

Bad Grund Bad Grund (Harz) is a town in the district of Göttingen, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the western Harz, approx. 7 km west of Clausthal-Zellerfeld, and 10 km north of Osterode am Harz. Bad Grund is also the name of the ...

Osterode am Harz Osterode am Harz, often simply called Osterode (; Eastphalian: ''Ostroe''), is a town in south-eastern Niedersachsen on the south-western edge of the Harz mountains. It was the seat of government of the district of Osterode. Osterode is locat ...

, and

Walkenried Walkenried () is a municipality in the district of Göttingen, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the southern Harz, approx. 15 km south of Braunlage, and 15 km northwest of Nordhausen. Walkenried was the seat of the ''Samtgem ...

, the

Samtgemeinde A ''Samtgemeinde'' (; plural: ''Samtgemeinden'') is a type of administrative division in Lower Saxony, Germany. ''Samtgemeinden'' are local government associations of municipalities, equivalent to the '' Ämter'' in Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenb ...

of Hattorf am Harz, and the

Harz The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

area.

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

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 Northeim (; nds, Nuurten) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, seat of the district of Northeim, with, in 2011, a population of 29,000. It lies on the German Half-Timbered House Road. History Northeim is first mentioned in 800 in a document ...

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.

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 Franz Blücher (24 March 1896 – 26 March 1959) was a German politician and member of the German Parliament (''Bundestag''). Biography Blücher was born in Essen, Kingdom of Prussia. After the end of World War II, he was one of the fou ...

Vice-Chancellor of Germany The vice-chancellor of Germany, unofficially the vice-chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (), officially the deputy to the federal chancellor (), is the second highest ranking German cabinet member. The chancellor is the head of governm ...

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 Rita Süssmuth ( ''née'' Kickuth; ; born 17 February 1937) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). She served as the 10th President of the Bundestag. From 1985 to 1988, she served as Federal Minister for Youth, Family ...

, also of the CDU. Süssmuth served as

President of the Bundestag The president of the Bundestag (german: Präsident des Deutschen Bundestages or ) presides over the sessions of the Bundestag, the federal parliament of Germany, with functions similar to that of a speaker in other countries. In the German orde ...

from 1988 to 1998. The SPD regained the constituency with candidate Inge Wettig-Danielmeier in 1998. In 2005,

Thomas Oppermann Thomas Ludwig Albert Oppermann (27 April 195425 October 2020) was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). From October 2017 until his death he served as Vice President of the Bundestag. In his earlier career, he serv ...

was elected representative. He was re-elected in 2009, 2013, and 2017. Oppermann died in October 2020.

was elected as his successor in 2021.

Election results

2021 election

2017 election

2013 election

2009 election

References

{{coord missing, Lower Saxony Federal electoral districts in Lower Saxony 1949 establishments in West Germany Constituencies established in 1949