Wesel I

112 Wesel I
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Wesel I in 2025
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Population	261,500 (2019)
Electorate	206,270 (2021)
Major settlements	Wesel Kamp-Lintfort Voerde Moers
Area	884.0 km^2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	SPD
Member	Rainer Keller
Elected	2021

Wesel I 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 112. It is located in the Ruhr region of North Rhine-Westphalia, comprising most of the district of Wesel.^[1]

Wesel I was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2021, it has been represented by Rainer Keller of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).^[2]

Geography

Wesel I is located in the Ruhr region of North Rhine-Westphalia. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the entirety of the Wesel district excluding the municipalities of Dinslaken, Moers, and Neukirchen-Vluyn.^[1]

History

Wesel I was created in 1949, then known as Rees – Dinslaken. From 1965 through 1976, it was named Dinslaken. It acquired its current name in the 1980 election. In the 1949 election, it was North Rhine-Westphalia constituency 27 in the numbering system. From 1953 through 1961, it was number 86. From 1965 through 1976, it was number 84. From 1980 through 1998, it was number 82. From 2002 through 2009, it was number 114. In the 2013 through 2021 elections, it was number 113. From the 2025 election, it has been number 112.

Originally, the constituency comprised the districts of Rees and Dinslaken. In the 1980 through 1998 elections, it comprised the municipalities of Dinslaken, Hamminkeln, Hünxe, Schermbeck, Voerde, Wesel, and Xanten from the district of Wesel. It acquired its current borders in the 2002 election.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	27	Rees – Dinslaken	Rees district Dinslaken district
1953	86
1957
1961
1965	84	Dinslaken
1969
1972
1976
1980	82	Wesel I	Wesel district (only Dinslaken, Hamminkeln, Hünxe, Schermbeck, Voerde, Wesel, and Xanten municipalities)
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	114		Wesel district (excluding Dinslaken, Moers, and Neukirchen-Vluyn municipalities)
2005
2009
2013	113
2017
2021
2025	112

Members

The constituency was first represented by Franz Etzel of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1949 to 1953. He was succeeded by Heinrich Lübke until 1961, Arnold Verhoeven until 1965, and Konrad Kraske until 1969. Udo Hein of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) was elected in 1969 and served a single term; Uwe Jens of the SPD retained the constituency in 1972 and served until 2002. Fellow SPD member Hans-Ulrich Krüger served from then until 2009, when Sabine Weiss of the CDU was elected representative. Rainer Keller was elected for the SPD in 2021.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	Franz Etzel	CDU	35.5
	1953	Heinrich Lübke	CDU	51.3
	1957			50.2
	1961	Arnold Verhoeven	CDU	44.3
	1965	Konrad Kraske	CDU	46.8
	1969	Udo Hein	SPD	50.7
	1972	Uwe Jens	SPD	59.6
	1976			55.8
	1980			53.5
	1983			49.8
	1987			51.0
	1990			48.5
	1994			52.5
	1998			57.8
	2002	Hans-Ulrich Krüger	SPD	50.0
	2005			49.0
	2009	Sabine Weiss	CDU	38.5
	2013			43.5
	2017			39.0
	2021	Rainer Keller	SPD	34.2

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Wesel I[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	Rainer Keller		54,488	34.2	1.4	53,277	33.4	4.7
	CDU	N Sabine Weiss		47,448	29.8	9.2	42,544	26.7	7.0
	Greens	Hans-Peter Weiß		19,928	12.5	7.0	20,629	12.9	6.8
	FDP	Bernd Reuther		14,452	9.1	1.1	17,302	10.8	1.5
	AfD	Holger Raumann		10,842	6.8	1.8	10,994	6.9	2.1
	Left	Sidney Lewandowski		4,598	2.9	3.1	5,103	3.2	3.5
	Tierschutzpartei						2,468	1.5	0.8
	PARTEI	Dirk Zerressen		3,907	2.5		2,079	1.3	0.6
	dieBasis	Matthias Moser		1,999	1.2		1,444	0.9
	FW	Christian Link		1,376	0.9		966	0.6	0.4
	Team Todenhöfer						629	0.4
	Pirates						515	0.3	0.1
	LIEBE						226	0.1
	Volt						209	0.1
	Gesundheitsforschung						205	0.1	0.0
	LfK						162	0.1
	The Homeland						134	0.1	0.1
	Bündnis C						92	0.1
	ÖDP						91	0.1	0.0
	Humanists						84	0.1	0.0
	V-Partei3						81	0.1	0.0
	du.						73	0.0
	MLPD	Wolf-Dieter Rochlitz		127	0.1	0.1	65	0.0	0.0
	PdF						53	0.0
	LKR						37	0.0
	DKP						19	0.0	0.0
	SGP						16	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,460			1,128
Total valid votes				159,165			159,497
Turnout				160,625	77.9	0.5
	SPD gain from CDU		Majority	7,040	4.4

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Wesel I[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	%	±%
	CDU	Y Sabine Weiss		61,849	39.0	4.5	53,623	33.7	5.6
	SPD	Jürgen Preuß		52,085	32.8	6.4	45,627	28.7	6.2
	AfD	Renatus Rieger		13,615	8.6	5.6	14,325	9.0	5.3
	FDP	Bernd Reuther		12,644	8.0	6.1	19,709	12.4	7.6
	Left	Gerd Baßfeld		9,461	6.0	1.0	10,637	6.7	0.7
	Greens	Stefan Meiners		8,763	5.5	0.6	9,743	6.1	0.3
	Tierschutzpartei						1,223	0.8
	PARTEI						1,136	0.7	0.3
	Pirates						664	0.4	1.7
	AD-DEMOKRATEN						405	0.3
	FW						380	0.2	0.0
	The Homeland						361	0.2	0.9
	Gesundheitsforschung						171	0.1
	DiB						159	0.1
	DM						156	0.1
	V-Partei³						148	0.1
	Volksabstimmung						144	0.1	0.1
	ÖDP						142	0.1	0.0
	BGE						132	0.1
	MLPD	Tufan Aydin		264	0.2		121	0.1	0.1
	Die Humanisten						71	0.0
	DKP						11	0.0
	SGP						10	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,663			1,245
Total valid votes				158,681			159,098
Turnout				160,344	77.4	3.2
	CDU hold		Majority	9,764	6.2	1.9

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Wesel I[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	%	±%
	CDU	Y Sabine Weiss		66,172	43.5	5.0	59,970	39.3	6.2
	SPD	Hans-Ulrich Krüger		59,709	39.2	0.9	53,249	34.9	2.8
	Left	Sascha Wagner		7,527	4.9	2.5	9,091	6.0	2.5
	Greens	Tom Wagener		7,489	4.9	1.7	9,780	6.4	2.2
	AfD			4,510	3.0		5,678	3.7
	Pirates	Manfred Schramm		3,567	2.3		3,154	2.1	0.5
	FDP	Thomas Heiske		2,781	1.8	5.3	7,224	4.7	8.2
	The Homeland						1,646	1.1	0.2
	PARTEI						643	0.4
	PRO						346	0.2
	FW						295	0.2
	Volksabstimmung						256	0.2	0.1
	RRP			490	0.3		243	0.2	0.0
	REP						229	0.2	0.1
	Nichtwahler						179	0.1
	ÖDP						158	0.1	0.0
	Party of Reason						116	0.1
	BIG						84	0.1
	Die Rechte						39	0.0
	MLPD						36	0.0	0.0
	PSG						28	0.0	0.0
	BüSo						25	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,736			1,512
Total valid votes				152,245			152,469
Turnout				153,981	74.2	1.3
	CDU hold		Majority	6,463	4.3	4.1

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Wesel I[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	%	±%
	CDU	Sabine Weiss		57,576	38.5	0.6	49,564	33.1	0.0
	SPD	N Hans-Ulrich Krüger		57,225	38.3	10.7	48,139	32.2	12.3
	Left	Norbert Segerath		11,071	7.4	3.5	12,676	8.5	3.7
	FDP	Thomas Heiske		10,624	7.1	3.6	19,441	13.0	4.0
	Greens	Holger Mrosek		9,873	6.6	3.0	12,853	8.6	2.3
	Pirates						2,336	1.6
	The Homeland	Daniel Krug		1,569	1.0	0.2	1,323	0.9	0.2
	Tierschutzpartei						969	0.6	0.2
	FAMILIE	Heiner Christinck		1,583	1.1		923	0.6	0.2
	RENTNER						446	0.3
	REP						395	0.3	0.0
	RRP						187	0.1
	ÖDP						114	0.1
	Volksabstimmung						97	0.1	0.0
	DVU						87	0.1
	Centre						86	0.1	0.0
	MLPD						30	0.0	0.0
	BüSo						28	0.0	0.0
	PSG						15	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,740			1,553
Total valid votes				149,521			149,708
Turnout				149,521	72.9	7.4
	CDU gain from SPD		Majority	351	0.2

References

1. "Constituency Wesel I". Federal Returning Officer.
2. "Results for Wesel I". Federal Returning Officer.
3. Results for Wesel I
4. Results for Wesel I
5. Results for Wesel I
6. Results for Wesel I