Gifhorn – Peine is an electoral constituency (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

: ''Wahlkreis'') represented in the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

. It elects one member via

first-past-the-post voting First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...

. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 45. It is located in eastern

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

, comprising the

Peine Peine (; Eastphalian: ''Paane'') is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, capital of the district Peine. It is situated on the river Fuhse and the Mittellandkanal, approximately west of Braunschweig, northeast of Hildesheim, and east of Hanover ...

district and most of the

Gifhorn Gifhorn () is a town and capital of the district of Gifhorn (district), Gifhorn in the east of Lower Saxony, Germany. It has a population of about 42,000 and is mainly influenced by the small distance to the more industrial and commercially import ...

district. Gifhorn – Peine was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 1998, it has been represented by Hubertus Heil 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 Form ...

(SPD).

Geography

Gifhorn – Peine is located in eastern

. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the district of Peine and the district of Gifhorn with the exception of the

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

n of

Boldecker Land Boldecker Land is a municipality in the district of Gifhorn, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated along the river Aller, approx. 12 km east of Gifhorn, and 8 km northwest of Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian language, Eastp ...

and Brome, as well as the Giebel area.

History

Gifhorn – Peine was created in 1949, then known as ''Peine – Gifhorn''. In the 1965 through 1976 elections, it was named ''Gifhorn''. It acquired its current name in the 1980 election. In the inaugural Bundestag election, it was Lower Saxony constituency 32 in the numbering system. From 1953 through 1961, it was number 54. From 1965 through 1998, it was number 40. In the 2002 and 2005 elections, it was number 45. In the 2009 election, it was number 46. Since the 2013 election, it has been number 45. Originally, the constituency comprised the Peine district, the independent city of

Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian language, Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth-largest city in the Germany, German state of Lower Saxony, on the river Aller (Germany), Aller east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the locat ...

, and the municipalities of

and Meine and the

n of Isenbüttel and Meinersen from the Gifhorn district. From the 1965 through 1972 elections, it comprised the districts of Gifhorn and Peine and the municipality of

Uetze Uetze () is a municipality in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Fuhse, approximately east of Hanover. Geography Uetze is the easternmost municipality in the Hanover Region. It is bordered by the di ...

from the district of Burgdorf. In the 1976 election, Uetze became part of the district of Landkreis Hannover, though the borders of ''Gifhorn'' constituency did not change. In the 1980 through 1998 elections, the constituency comprised the entirety of the Gifhorn and Peine districts. It acquired its current borders in the 2002 election.

Members

The constituency was first held by Joachim Schöne of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), who served from 1949 to 1957. Arthur Enk of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won in 1957 and served a single term. Uwe-Jens Nissen of the SPD won the constituency in 1961, but Enk returned in 1965. In 1969, Philipp von Bismarck replaced Enk as CDU candidate and won. Hermann Barche of the SPD was elected in 1972, but served only a single term before von Bismarck returned as representative in 1976. In 1980, the SPD regained the constituency again, this time with candidate Adolf Stockleben. In 1983, Engelbert Nelle of the CDU won, and served until 1998. In 1998, Hubertus Heil of the SPD was elected representative. He was re-elected in 2002, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017, and 2021.

Election results

2025 election

2021 election

2017 election

2013 election

2009 election

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gifhorn - Peine Federal electoral districts in Lower Saxony 1949 establishments in West Germany Constituencies established in 1949