Bielefeld – Gütersloh II

131 Bielefeld – Gütersloh II
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Bielefeld – Gütersloh II in 2025
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Population	345,300 (2019)
Electorate	243,059 (2017)
Major settlements	Bielefeld
Area	294.3 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	SPD
Member	Wiebke Esdar
Elected	2017, 2021

Bielefeld – Gütersloh II 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 131. It is located in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, comprising the city of Bielefeld and a small part of the district of Gütersloh.

Bielefeld – Gütersloh II was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2017, it has been represented by Wiebke Esdar of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

Geography

Bielefeld – Gütersloh II is located in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the independent city of Bielefeld and the municipality of Werther from the Gütersloh district.

History

Gütersloh I was created in 1949, then known as Bielefeld-Stadt. In the 1976 election, it was named Bielefeld II. From 1980 through 2009, it was named Bielefeld. It acquired its current name in the 2013 election. In the 1949 election, it was North Rhine-Westphalia constituency 47 in the numbering system. From 1949 through 1961, it was number 106. From 1965 through 1976, it was number 104. From 1980 through 1998, it was number 102. From 2002 through 2009, it was number 133. In the 2013 through 2021 elections, it was number 132. From the 2025 election, it has been number 131.

Originally, the constituency was coterminous with the independent city of Bielefeld. In the 1976 election, it was coterminous with Bielefeld excluding the former municipalities of Brackwede, Sennestadt, Senne, Gadderbaum, and Schröttinghausen. In the 1980 through 1994 elections, it was again coterminous with Bielefeld. In the 1998 election, it acquired the municipality of Werther.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	47	Bielefeld-Stadt	Bielefeld city
1953	106
1957
1961
1965	104
1969
1972
1976		Bielefeld II	Bielefeld city (excluding the former Brackwede, Sennestadt, Senne, Gadderbaum, and Schröttinghausen municipalities)
1980	102	Bielefeld	Bielefeld city
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998			Bielefeld city Gütersloh district (only Werther municipality)
2002	133
2005
2009
2013	132	Bielefeld – Gütersloh II
2017
2021
2025	131

Members

The constituency has been held by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) during all but two Bundestag terms since 1949. It was first represented by Friederike Nadig of the SPD from 1949 to 1953, followed by Artur Ladebeck and Otto Walpert for a single term each. Gerhard Koch served three terms from 1961 to 1972, followed by Elfriede Eilers until 1980. Kurt Vogelsang then served a single term before Reinhard Meyer zu Bentrup of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) was elected. Günter Rixe regained the constituency for the SPD in 1987 and served until 1998. Rainer Wend served from then to 2009, when Christina Kampmann of the CDU won the constituency. Lena Strothmann regained it for the SPD in 2013. Wiebke Esdar was elected in 2017 and re-elected in 2021.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	Friederike Nadig	SPD	44.8
	1953	Artur Ladebeck	SPD	41.8
	1957	Otto Walpert	SPD	42.5
	1961	Gerhard Koch	SPD	45.7
	1965			49.2
	1969			52.2
	1972	Elfriede Eilers	SPD	53.4
	1976			47.5
	1980	Kurt Vogelsang	SPD	48.7
	1983	Reinhard Meyer zu Bentrup	CDU	46.6
	1987	Günter Rixe	SPD	43.0
	1990			42.8
	1994			46.8
	1998	Rainer Wend	SPD	50.2
	2002			49.8
	2005			47.2
	2009	Lena Strothmann	CDU	36.3
	2013	Christina Kampmann	SPD	38.1
	2017	Wiebke Esdar	SPD	33.2
	2017			30.0

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Bielefeld – Gütersloh II
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 Wiebke Esdar		55,234	30.0	3.1	50,009	27.2	1.8
	CDU	Angelika Westerwelle		40,928	22.3	8.4	37,355	20.3	7.3
	Greens	Britta Haßelmann		40,015	21.8	12.1	40,161	21.8	10.7
	FDP	Jan Maik Schlifter		17,793	9.7	2.3	20,658	11.2	0.4
	AfD	Maximilian Kneller		12,294	6.7	1.5	12,448	6.8	2.2
	Left	Friedrich Straetmanns		9,905	5.4	3.6	11,462	6.2	4.9
	PARTEI	Tjark Nitsche		3,966	2.2	0.3	2,324	1.3	0.1
	dieBasis	Jürgen Wächter		2,655	1.4		2,274	1.2
	Tierschutzpartei						1,872	1.0	0.4
	Team Todenhöfer						1,591	0.9
	Volt	Stefan Upmeier zu Belzen		921	0.5		720	0.4
	Pirates						683	0.4	0.1
	FW						697	0.4	0.2
	Bündnis C						336	0.2
	Gesundheitsforschung						219	0.1	0.0
	ÖDP						197	0.1	0.0
	LIEBE						187	0.1
	LfK						186	0.1
	Humanists						156	0.1	0.0
	NPD						120	0.1	0.1
	V-Partei3						117	0.1	0.1
	du.						105	0.1
	MLPD	Reinhard Schultka		153	0.1	0.1	88	0.0	0.0
	PdF						77	0.0
	DKP						64	0.0	0.0
	LKR						32	0.0
	PSG						25	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,481			1,182
Total valid votes				183,864			184,163
Turnout				185,345	76.3	0.6
	SPD hold		Majority	14,306	7.7	5.3

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Bielefeld – Gütersloh II
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	Wiebke Esdar		61,086	33.2	4.9	46,883	25.4	7.2
	CDU	Michael Weber		56,485	30.7	6.6	50,995	27.6	7.7
	Greens	Britta Haßelmann		17,728	9.6	1.1	20,567	11.1	0.5
	Left	Friedrich Straetmanns		16,489	9.0	2.1	20,522	11.1	2.7
	AfD	Johannes Brinkrolf		15,028	8.2	5.7	16,514	8.9	5.5
	FDP	Jasmin Wahl-Schwentker		13,495	7.3	5.3	21,364	11.6	7.6
	PARTEI	Lena Oberbäumer		3,473	1.9		2,168	1.2	0.8
	Tierschutzpartei						1,092	0.6
	AD-DEMOKRATEN						1,039	0.6
	Pirates						938	0.5	1.9
	FW						388	0.2	0.1
	DiB						293	0.2
	NPD						289	0.2	0.5
	BGE						263	0.1
	V-Partei³						244	0.1
	DM						235	0.1
	ÖDP						201	0.1	0.0
	MLPD	Wolfgang Wöhrmann		293	0.2		142	0.1	0.0
	Volksabstimmung						141	0.1	0.1
	Gesundheitsforschung						138	0.1
	Die Humanisten						125	0.1
	DKP						47	0.0
	SGP						28	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,075			1,536
Total valid votes				184,077			184,616
Turnout				186,152	75.6	2.9
	SPD hold		Majority	4,601	2.5	1.7

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Bielefeld – Gütersloh II
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	Christina Kampmann		67,464	38.1	3.6	57,931	32.6	2.6
	CDU	N Lena Strothmann		66,021	37.3	1.0	62,698	35.3	4.9
	Greens	Britta Haßelmann		19,026	10.7	3.3	20,711	11.7	2.4
	Left	Frank Schwarzer		12,153	6.9	1.0	14,869	8.4	1.2
	Pirates	Lars Büsing		4,564	2.6		4,189	2.4	0.4
	AfD	Marcus Pretzell		4,398	2.5		6,076	3.4
	FDP	Jasmin Wahl-Schwentker		3,523	2.0	4.1	7,055	4.0	7.2
	NPD						1,233	0.7	0.1
	PARTEI						741	0.4
	PRO						336	0.2
	Volksabstimmung						315	0.2	0.1
	ÖDP						280	0.2	0.1
	FW						226	0.1
	BIG						190	0.1
	Nichtwahler						190	0.1
	REP						131	0.1	0.1
	MLPD						97	0.1	0.0
	Party of Reason						93	0.1
	RRP						63	0.0	0.1
	PSG						51	0.0	0.0
	BüSo						39	0.0	0.0
	Die Rechte						34	0.0
Informal votes				2,476			2,077
Total valid votes				177,149			177,548
Turnout				179,625	72.7	0.4
	SPD gain from CDU		Majority	1,443	0.8

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Bielefeld
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	Lena Strothmann		64,621	36.3	1.5	54,277	30.4	1.3
	SPD	Guntram Schneider		61,405	34.5	12.8	53,583	30.0	9.1
	Greens	Britta Haßelmann		24,981	14.0	7.5	25,057	14.0	2.1
	Left	Frank Schwarzer		14,056	7.9	3.7	17,126	9.6	3.6
	FDP	Hans-Achim von Stockhausen		10,852	6.1	3.4	19,883	11.1	2.6
	Pirates						3,497	2.0
	NPD	Siegfried Reball		1,784	1.0	0.2	1,453	0.8	0.1
	Tierschutzpartei						956	0.5	0.1
	FAMILIE						755	0.4	0.1
	RENTNER						551	0.3
	REP						311	0.2	0.0
	RRP						190	0.1
	ÖDP						179	0.1
	Volksabstimmung						132	0.1	0.0
	DVU						120	0.1
	BüSo	Paul Giebeler		394	0.2		100	0.1	0.0
	MLPD						68	0.0	0.0
	Centre						67	0.0	0.0
	PSG						45	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,348			2,091
Total valid votes				178,093			178,350
Turnout				180,441	73.0	7.0
	CDU gain from SPD		Majority	3,216	1.8