Hamburg Wandsbek (electoral district)


Hamburg Wandsbek is one of the 299 single member constituencies used for the German parliament, the Bundestag. Located in north east Hamburg, the district was created for the 1949 election, the first election in West Germany after World War II. With the exception of the 1953 election, which was won by the German Party, all elections until 2009, were won by the Social Democratic Party of Germany. However at the 2009 election a drop in their vote share saw them lose the seat. As a result, despite a decrease in the party's vote share, Jürgen Klimke, the Christian Democratic Union candidate gained the seat for the first time. Klimke did not contest the constituency at the 2013 election and the CDU candidate Frank Schira lost to the current SPD representative Aydan Özoğuz.

History and boundaries

Upon creation for the 1949 election, the district was called Hamburg V. The constituency area originally included almost all of the borough of Wandsbek, one of the seven boroughs of Hamburg. The exception was the Eilbek area, which was placed in the Hamburg VI district. Following boundary changes which took effect for the 1965 election, the district was renamed Wandsbek and included the borough of the same name with the exception of the districts of Marienthal, Jenfeld and Tonndorf, which were placed in the Bergedorf constituency. For the 1972 election, the Bramfeld area was transferred to the Hamburg Nord II constituency, but was returned to Wandsbek in 1980 when the Nord II constituency was abolished. At the same time, the neighbourhoods of Alstertal, Lemsahl-Mellingstedt, Duvenstedt, Wohldorf-Ohlstedt and Bergstedt were transferred to the newly created Hamburg Nord constituency. For the 2002 election, the abolition of the Bergedorf constituency meant that the districts of Marienthal, Jenfeld and Tonndorf were returned to Wandsbek, with the Eilbek area again removed and transferred to Hamburg Mitte constituency.

2009 election

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