Cologne III

94 Cologne III
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Cologne III in 2025
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Population	309,700 (2019)
Electorate	204,539 (2021)
Major settlements	Cologne (partial)
Area	122.9 km^2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	SPD
Member	Rolf Mützenich
Elected	2002, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017, 2021

Cologne III (German: Köln III) 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 94. It is located in western North Rhine-Westphalia, comprising the northwestern part of the city of Cologne.^[1]

Cologne II was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2002, it has been represented by Rolf Mützenich of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).^[2]

Geography

Cologne III is located in western North Rhine-Westphalia. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the northwestern part of the independent city of Cologne, specifically the districts of Ehrenfeld, Nippes, and Chorweiler.^[1]

History

Cologne III was created in 1949. In the 1949 election, it was North Rhine-Westphalia constituency 9 in the numbering system. From 1953 through 1961, it was number 68. From 1965 through 1998, it was number 61. From 2002 through 2009, it was number 96. In the 2013 through 2021 elections, it was number 95. From the 2025 election, it has been number 94.

Originally, the constituency comprised the area of Cologne on the right bank of the Rhine. In the 1965 through 1976 elections, it comprised the districts of Nippes, Niehl, Mengenich, Longerich, Chorweiler, and Worringen, as well as the area of Ehrenfeld north of Subbelrather Straße. It acquired its current borders in the 1980 election.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	9	Köln III	Cologne city (only the area on the right bank of the Rhine)
1953	68
1957
1961
1965	61		Cologne city (only Nippes, Niehl, Mengenich, Longerich, Chorweiler, and Worringen districts, and the area of Ehrenfeld district north of Subbelrather Straße)
1969
1972
1976
1980			Cologne city (only Ehrenfeld, Nippes, and Chorweiler districts)
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	96
2005
2009
2013	95
2017
2021
2025	94

Members

The constituency was first represented by Johannes Albers of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1949 to 1957, followed by fellow CDU members Hans Katzer until 1965 and Aenne Brauksiepe until 1969. It was won by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in 1969 and represented by Hubert Weber. He was succeeded in 1980 by Konrad Gilges, who served from then until 2002. Rolf Mützenich was elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017, and 2021. Mützenich became leader of the SPD's Bundestag group in 2019.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	Johannes Albers	CDU	43.4
	1953			50.0
	1957	Hans Katzer	CDU	55.0
	1961			46.5
	1965	Aenne Brauksiepe	CDU	48.4
	1969	Hubert Weber	SPD	53.3
	1972			59.1
	1976			53.3
	1980	Konrad Gilges	SPD	52.1
	1983			50.5
	1987			48.5
	1990			47.4
	1994			48.1
	1998			52.1
	2002	Rolf Mützenich	SPD	50.3
	2005			50.5
	2009			35.9
	2013			39.3
	2017			32.3
	2021			29.9

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Cologne III[3]
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 Rolf Mützenich		46,149	29.9	2.4	39,901	25.8	1.2
	Greens	Katharina Dröge		43,600	28.3	15.1	44,407	28.8	14.7
	CDU	Gisela Manderla		28,674	18.6	9.0	27,485	17.8	6.6
	FDP	Volker Görzel		10,708	6.9	0.2	13,845	9.0	2.3
	Left	Michael Weisenstein		8,435	5.5	4.2	9,903	6.4	6.4
	AfD	Jochen Haug		8,015	5.2	2.3	7,876	5.1	2.7
	Team Todenhöfer						1,937	1.3
	Tierschutzpartei						1,846	1.2	0.4
	PARTEI	Stefan Pott		3,143	2.0	0.4	1,784	1.2	0.2
	dieBasis	Songül Schlürscheid		1,831	1.2		1,605	1.0
	Volt	Christopher Peterka		2,108	1.4		1,424	0.9
	FW	Norbert Theiß		1,100	0.7		684	0.4	0.2
	Pirates						466	0.3	0.2
	Independent	Christoph Goldbeck		189	0.1
	LIEBE						142	0.1
	du.						140	0.1
	Gesundheitsforschung						139	0.1	0.0
	Humanists						135	0.1	0.0
	ÖDP						121	0.1	0.0
	V-Partei3						119	0.1	0.0
	LfK						109	0.1
	The Homeland						73	0.0	0.1
	MLPD	Reiner Dworschak		113	0.1	0.1	72	0.0	0.0
	Independent	Maciej Podjaski		70	0.0
	Bündnis C						52	0.0
	PdF						48	0.0
	DKP						43	0.0	0.0
	LKR						35	0.0
	SGP						11	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,107			840
Total valid votes				154,135			154,402
Turnout				155,242	75.9	1.9
	SPD hold		Majority	2,549	1.6	3.1

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Cologne III[4]
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 Rolf Mützenich		48,148	32.3	7.0	36,849	24.6	6.9
	CDU	Gisela Manderla		41,106	27.6	5.3	36,500	24.4	6.2
	Greens	Katharina Dröge		19,621	13.2	0.3	20,973	14.0	0.9
	Left	Güldane Tokyürek		14,431	9.7	1.9	19,118	12.8	3.6
	AfD	Stephan Boyens		11,249	7.5		11,731	7.8	4.6
	FDP	Volker Görzel		10,599	7.1	4.9	16,850	11.3	6.8
	PARTEI	Lukas Herrmann		3,632	2.4		2,074	1.4	0.6
	AD-DEMOKRATEN						1,156	0.8
	Tierschutzpartei						1,144	0.8
	Pirates						704	0.5	2.2
	DiB						468	0.3
	FW						317	0.2	0.1
	BGE						294	0.2
	V-Partei³						213	0.1
	The Homeland						202	0.1	0.6
	ÖDP						176	0.1	0.1
	DM						170	0.1
	Die Humanisten						146	0.1
	Gesundheitsforschung						141	0.1
	Volksabstimmung						136	0.1	0.1
	MLPD	Matthias Sauter		312	0.2		126	0.1	0.0
	DKP						25	0.0
	SGP						12	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,531			1,104
Total valid votes				149,098			149,525
Turnout				150,629	74.0	3.8
	SPD hold		Majority	7,042	4.7	1.7

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Cologne III[5]
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 Rolf Mützenich		55,021	39.3	3.4	44,240	31.5	3.7
	CDU	Gisela Manderla		45,999	32.9	4.1	42,902	30.6	5.5
	Greens	Katharina Dröge		18,046	12.9	4.1	20,905	14.9	3.8
	Left	Michael Weisenstein		10,883	7.8	0.8	12,960	9.2	0.9
	Pirates	Thomas Hegenbarth		4,161	3.0		3,789	2.7	0.6
	FDP	Volker Görzel		3,158	2.3	6.2	6,339	4.5	8.4
	AfD						4,513	3.2
	The Homeland	Tibor Herzog		1,750	1.3	0.1	1,057	0.8	0.2
	PARTEI						1,041	0.7
	PRO						488	0.3
	FW	Thomas Heilig		728	0.5		405	0.3
	BIG						381	0.3
	Nichtwahler						293	0.2
	ÖDP						263	0.2	0.0
	Volksabstimmung						248	0.2	0.1
	REP						151	0.1	0.2
	Party of Reason						127	0.1
	RRP						67	0.0	0.1
	BüSo	Stephan Hochstein		203	0.1		59	0.0	0.0
	MLPD						57	0.0	0.0
	PSG						34	0.0	0.0
	Die Rechte						27	0.0
Informal votes				1,765			1,368
Total valid votes				139,949			140,346
Turnout				141,714	70.2	2.0
	SPD hold		Majority	9,022	6.4	0.8

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Cologne III[6]
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 Rolf Mützenich		47,625	35.9	14.6	37,019	27.8	13.0
	CDU	Artur Tybussek		38,093	28.7	1.7	33,367	25.1	0.0
	Greens	Kerstin Müller		22,550	17.0	7.7	24,797	18.7	3.2
	Left	Ursula Lötzer		11,390	8.6	3.8	13,540	10.2	4.0
	FDP	Bettina Houben		11,187	8.4	4.5	17,225	13.0	3.3
	Pirates						2,791	2.1
	The Homeland	Bernhard Blankenheim		1,788	1.3	0.5	1,231	0.9	0.2
	Tierschutzpartei						847	0.6	0.2
	RENTNER						456	0.3
	FAMILIE						473	0.4	0.1
	ÖDP						201	0.2
	REP						367	0.3	0.1
	RRP						257	0.2
	Volksabstimmung						153	0.1	0.0
	Centre						58	0.0	0.0
	DVU						57	0.0
	MLPD						53	0.0	0.0
	PSG						26	0.0	0.0
	BüSo						38	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,619			1,296
Total valid votes				132,633			132,956
Turnout				134,252	68.1	6.0
	SPD hold		Majority	9,532	7.2	12.9

References

1. "Constituency Cologne III". Federal Returning Officer.
2. "Results for Cologne III". Federal Returning Officer.
3. Results for Cologne III
4. Results for Cologne III
5. Results for Cologne III
6. Results for Cologne III