Delimitation of constituencies

The territory of the Federal Republic of Germany is subdivided into 299 constituencies. The territories of the constituencies for the elections to the 18^th German Bundestag are defined in the Annex to Article 1 of the Twentieth Law amending the Federal Electoral Act (BWG) of 12 April 2012 (Federal Law Gazette I page 518) - only available in German.

The need to alter the distribution of constituencies among Länder and redraw the boundaries of individual constituencies results, among others, from the provisions of Section 3 (1), first sentence, nos. 2, 3 and 5 of the Federal Elections Act. It stipulates that the number of constituencies in the individual Länder has to correspond as far as possible to their share of the population. The population of a constituency should not deviate from the average population of all constituencies by more than 15 per cent in either direction; where the deviation is greater than 25 per cent, the boundaries have to be redrawn. The basis of these calculations is the German population. The boundaries of municipalities, districts and towns not attached to a municipal district should be adhered to where possible when constituency boundaries are defined.

Compared with the former structure, the legislator has redrawn the boundaries of 32 constituencies for the 2013 Bundestag Election. The changes are as follows:

Changes due to population development

21 constituencies have been adjusted on account of the population development in Länder or constituencies. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has lost one of seven constituencies, the former constituency 18 Neubrandenburg – Mecklenburg-Strelitz – Uecker-Randow. As a consequence, the legislator has redrawn the boundaries of the remaining six constituencies in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. These are the new constituencies:

12 Schwerin – Ludwigslust-Parchim I – Nordwestmecklenburg I,
13 Ludwigslust-Parchim II – Nordwestmecklenburg II – Landkreis Rostock I
14 Rostock – Landkreis Rostock II,
15 Vorpommern-Rügen – Vorpommern-Greifswald I,
16 Mecklenburgische Seenplatte I – Vorpommern-Greifswald II and
17 Mecklenburgische Seenplatte II – Landkreis Rostock III.

Hessen has received one more constituency in addition to the 21 constituencies it already had. Consequently, the boundaries of another four constituencies in Hessen have been redrawn:

173 Gießen,
174 Fulda,
175 Main-Kinzig – Wetterau II – Schotten (new constituency),
177 Wetterau I and
180 Hanau.

In Hamburg three constituencies have been redrawn:

18 Hamburg-Mitte,
19 Hamburg-Altona and
20 Hamburg-Eimsbüttel.

In Nordrhein-Westfalen two constituencies have been redrawn:

115 Duisburg I and
116 Duisburg II.

In Bayern the boundaries of the following constituencies have been redrawn:

215 Freising,
216 Fürstenfeldbruck,
217 Ingolstadt,
222 München-Land and
224 Starnberg.

Changes due to municipal boundary changes

Redescription of constituencies

In addition to that, many constituencies received a new number when constituency boundaries were redrawn between Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Hessen.

Accordingly, the 299 constituencies are distributed among the 16 Länder as follows:

Land	Constituency number	Number of constituencies
Schleswig-Holstein	1 to 11	11
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	12 to 17	6
Hamburg	18 to 23	6
Niedersachsen	24 to 53	30
Bremen	54 and 55	2
Brandenburg	56 to 65	10
Sachsen-Anhalt	66 to 74	9
Berlin	75 to 86	12
Nordrhein-Westfalen	87 to 150	64
Sachsen	151 to 166	16
Hessen	167 to 188	22
Thüringen	189 to 197	9
Rheinland-Pfalz	198 to 212	15
Bayern	213 to 257	45
Baden-Württemberg	258 to 295	38
Saarland	296 to 299	4

Map of constituencies for the elections to the 18^th German Bundestag

The multi-coloured “Map of constituencies for the elections to the 18th German Bundestag“ presents the delimitation of constituencies which will be valid at the next Bundestag election. It shows the numbers and boundaries of all constituencies and their composition of administrative districts and towns not attached to an administrative district and, separately, the delimitation of constituencies of those large cities which are subdivided into several constituencies.