Wuppertal I

Wuppertal 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 101. It is located in western North Rhine-Westphalia, comprising most of the city of Wuppertal.

101 Wuppertal I
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Wuppertal I in 2025
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Population	313,000 (2019)
Electorate	202,528 (2021)
Major settlements	Wuppertal (partial)
Area	130.8 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	SPD
Member	Helge Lindh
Elected	2017, 2021

Wuppertal I was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2017, it has been represented by Helge Lindh of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

Geography

Wuppertal I is located in western North Rhine-Westphalia. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the entirety of the independent city of Wuppertal excluding the districts of Cronenberg and Ronsdorf.

History

Wuppertal I was created in 1949. In the 1949 election, it was North Rhine-Westphalia constituency 16 in the numbering system. From 1953 through 1961, it was number 75. From 1965 through 1998, it was number 69. From 2002 through 2009, it was number 103. In the 2013 through 2021 elections, it was number 102. From the 2025 election, it has been number 101.

Originally, the constituency comprised the districts of Elberfeld, Elberfeld-West, Uellendahl-Katernberg, Vohwinkel, and Cronenberg from the city of Wuppertal. It acquired its current borders in the 2002 election.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	16	Wuppertal I	Wuppertal city (only Elberfeld, Elberfeld-West, Uellendahl-Katernberg, Vohwinkel, and Cronenberg districts)
1953	75
1957
1961
1965	69
1969
1972
1976
1980
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	103		Wuppertal city (excluding Cronenberg and Ronsdorf districts)
2005
2009
2013	102
2017
2021
2025	101

Members

The constituency was first represented by Carl Wirths of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) from 1949 to 1957. He was succeeded by Otto Schmidt of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in the 1957 election. Schmidt served until 1965, when Hermann Herberts of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) was elected for a single term. Adolf Scheu of the SPD succeeded him in 1969 and served until 1980. He was followed by Rudolf Dreßler until 2002. Manfred Zöllmer was representative from 2002 to 2017. Helge Lindh was elected in 2017.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	Carl Wirths	FDP	39.4
	1953			50.5
	1957	Otto Schmidt	CDU	53.4
	1961			39.8
	1965	Hermann Herberts	SPD	45.3
	1969	Adolf Scheu	SPD	50.4
	1972			50.2
	1976			42.6
	1980	Rudolf Dreßler	SPD	45.1
	1983			45.8
	1987			45.6
	1990			40.0
	1994			45.5
	1998			53.1
	2002	Manfred Zöllmer	SPD	49.9
	2005			47.9
	2009			35.8
	2013			40.7
	2017	Helge Lindh	SPD	31.5
	2021			37.3

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Wuppertal I
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 Helge Lindh		54,065	37.3	5.8	42,421	29.2	3.1
	CDU	Caroline Lünenschloss		31,960	22.0	7.6	30,527	21.0	5.5
	Greens	Anja Liebert		18,932	13.1	5.6	25,388	17.5	8.9
	FDP	Manfred Todtenhausen		13,756	9.5	0.8	15,970	11.0	1.4
	AfD	Martin Liedtke-Bentlage		11,995	8.3	2.8	12,090	8.3	2.7
	Left	Till Sörensen-Siebel		6,742	4.7	4.2	8,055	5.5	5.3
	Human Environment Animal Protection						2,159	1.5	0.6
	Team Todenhöfer						1,713	1.2
	PARTEI	Thomas Hofmann		2,665	1.8	0.1	1,674	1.2	0.1
	dieBasis	Alexander Grefarth		2,068	1.4		1,733	1.2
	FW	Henrik Dahlmann		1,544	1.1		964	0.7	0.4
	Volt	Lars Herbold		1,028	0.7		732	0.5
	Pirates						533	0.4	0.2
	LIEBE						167	0.1
	NPD						167	0.1	0.1
	Gesundheitsforschung						152	0.1	0.0
	LfK						129	0.1
	V-Partei3						126	0.1	0.0
	Humanists						123	0.1	0.0
	MLPD	Nuran Cakmakli-Kraft		203	0.1	0.0	122	0.1	0.0
	Bündnis C						115	0.1
	ÖDP						97	0.1	0.1
	du.						78	0.1
	DKP						58	0.0	0.0
	PdF						49	0.0
	SGP						30	0.0	0.0
	LKR						27	0.0
Informal votes				1,741			1,300
Total valid votes				144,958			145,399
Turnout				146,699	72.4	0.4
	SPD hold		Majority	22,105	15.3	13.4

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Wuppertal I
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	Helge Lindh		46,657	31.5	9.2	38,696	26.0	6.4
	CDU	Rainer Spiecker		43,814	29.6	7.0	39,341	26.5	6.5
	AfD	Dietmar Gedig		16,339	11.0		16,431	11.1	6.9
	Left	Bernhard Sander		13,120	8.9	1.2	16,100	10.8	2.2
	FDP	Manfred Todtenhausen		12,910	8.7	5.7	18,437	12.4	6.7
	Greens	Sylvia Meyer		10,987	7.4	0.3	12,754	8.6	1.4
	PARTEI	Julia Wiedow		2,536	1.7		1,504	1.0	0.3
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,250	0.8
	Pirates	Stefan Kottas		1,407	1.0	2.0	839	0.6	1.9
	AD-DEMOKRATEN						816	0.5
	NPD						376	0.3	0.9
	FW						320	0.2	0.1
	DM						252	0.2
	DiB						228	0.2
	BGE						202	0.1
	MLPD	Fritz Ullmann		236	0.2		194	0.1	0.0
	ÖDP						183	0.1	0.0
	V-Partei³						163	0.1
	Die Humanisten						151	0.1
	Gesundheitsforschung						137	0.1
	Volksabstimmung						135	0.1	0.1
	DKP						46	0.0
	SGP						12	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,944			1,383
Total valid votes				148,006			148,567
Turnout				149,950	72.0	3.6
	SPD hold		Majority	2,843	1.9	2.2

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Wuppertal I
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 Manfred Zöllmer		58,407	40.7	4.9	46,638	32.4	5.0
	CDU	Peter Hintze		52,427	36.6	2.3	47,470	33.0	4.4
	Left	Bernhard Sander		10,992	7.7	2.8	12,499	8.7	3.0
	Greens	Hermann E. Ott		10,198	7.1	2.2	14,318	9.9	2.8
	FDP	Manfred Todtenhausen		4,314	3.0	5.3	8,198	5.7	7.9
	AfD						5,989	4.2
	Pirates	Franz Rudolf Büning		4,264	3.0		3,561	2.5	0.5
	NPD	Michael Schnorr		2,803	2.0	0.3	1,620	1.1	0.1
	PARTEI						962	0.7
	PRO						473	0.3
	FW						440	0.3
	REP						390	0.3	0.5
	Volksabstimmung						311	0.2	0.1
	Nichtwahler						227	0.2
	ÖDP						202	0.1	0.1
	BIG						187	0.1
	MLPD						131	0.1	0.0
	Party of Reason						126	0.1
	Die Rechte						79	0.1
	RRP						61	0.0	0.1
	PSG						37	0.0	0.0
	BüSo						19	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,520			1,987
Total valid votes				143,405			143,938
Turnout				145,925	68.5	1.5
	SPD hold		Majority	5,980	4.1	2.6

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Wuppertal I
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 Manfred Zöllmer		51,180	35.8	12.1	39,244	27.4	13.0
	CDU	Peter Hintze		49,021	34.3	1.2	40,972	28.6	0.2
	Left	Bernhard Sander		15,003	10.5	4.7	16,743	11.7	4.6
	Greens	Hermann E. Ott		13,308	9.3	4.6	18,285	12.8	3.5
	FDP	Manfred Todtenhausen		11,852	8.3	4.0	19,458	13.6	2.9
	Pirates						2,880	2.0
	NPD	Michael Schnorr		2,337	1.6	0.3	1,537	1.1	0.1
	REP						1,098	0.8	0.0
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,009	0.7	0.1
	FAMILIE						629	0.4	0.0
	RENTNER						533	0.4
	RRP						189	0.1
	Volksabstimmung						169	0.1	0.0
	ÖDP						128	0.1
	MLPD	Helmut Böhmler		287	0.2		114	0.1	0.0
	DVU						78	0.1
	Centre						56	0.0	0.0
	PSG						27	0.0	0.0
	BüSo						25	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,101			1,915
Total valid votes				142,988			143,174
Turnout				145,089	67.0	8.4
	SPD hold		Majority	2,159	1.5	10.9