Diepholz – Nienburg I

Diepholz – Nienburg 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 33. It is located in central Lower Saxony, comprising the Diepholz district and parts of the Nienburg district.

33 Diepholz – Nienburg I
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Diepholz – Nienburg I in 2025
State	Lower Saxony
Population	247,900 (2019)
Electorate	194,371 (2021)
Major settlements	Syke Diepholz
Area	2,490.9 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	CDU
Member	Axel Knoerig
Elected	2009, 2013, 2017, 2021

Diepholz – Nienburg I was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2009, it has been represented by Axel Knoerig of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Geography

Diepholz – Nienburg I is located in central Lower Saxony. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the entirety of the Diepholz district as well as the Samtgemeinden of Grafschaft Hoya and Uchte from the Nienburg district.

History

Diepholz – Nienburg I was created in 1949, then known as Diepholz – Melle – Wittlage. In the 1965 through 1976 elections, it was named Nienburg. From 1980 through 1998, it was named Diepholz. It acquired its current name in the 2002 election. In the inaugural Bundestag election, it was Lower Saxony constituency 23 in the numbering system. From 1953 through 1961, it was number 45. From 1965 through 1976, it was number 34. From 1980 through 1998, it was number 28. From 2002 through 2009, it was number 34. Since 2013, it has been constituency 33.

Originally, the constituency comprised the districts of Grafschaft Diepholz, Melle, and Wittlage. It also included part of the Nienburg district, specifically the territory which now comprises the Samtgemeinde of Uchte. In the 1965 election, the entirety of the Nienburg district was transferred to the constituency. In the 1980 election, the area of the abolished Melle and Wittlage districts was transferred away, as was the Nienburg district. From then until 2002, the constituency comprised only the district of Diepholz. It acquired its current borders in the 2002 election.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	23	Diepholz – Melle – Wittlage	Grafschaft Diepholz district Melle district Nienburg district (only Uchte Samtgemeinde) Wittlage district
1953	45
1957
1961
1965	34	Nienburg	Grafschaft Diepholz district Melle district Nienburg district Wittlage district
1969
1972
1976
1980	28	Diepholz	Diepholz district
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	34	Diepholz – Nienburg I	Diepholz district Nienburg district (only Grafschaft Hoya and Uchte Samtgemeinden)
2005
2009
2013	33
2017
2021
2025

Members

The constituency was first held by Rudolf Eickhoff of the German Party (DP), who served from 1949 until 1957. He was succeeded by Karl Gossel of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who served two terms. Fellow CDU members Günter von Nordenskjöld (1965–72) and Richard Ey (1972–80) then each served two terms. In 1980, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) won the constituency, and Peter Würtz was its representative for a single term. The CDU's Walter Link regained it in 1983, and served until 1998. In 1998, the SPD's Detlev von Larcher won, and served a single term. Rolf Kramer of the SPD was representative from 2002 to 2009. Axel Knoerig of the CDU has served as representative since 2009.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	Rudolf Eickhoff	DP	34.2
	1953			26.7
	1957	Karl Gossel	CDU	30.5
	1961			35.4
	1965	Günter von Nordenskjöld	CDU	45.1
	1969			46.4
	1972	Richard Ey	CDU	45.5
	1976			49.2
	1980	Peter Würtz	SPD	46.0
	1983	Walter Link	CDU	50.1
	1987			44.3
	1990			46.3
	1994			44.3
	1998	Detlev von Larcher	SPD	48.4
	2002	Rolf Kramer	SPD	48.3
	2005			45.7
	2009	Axel Knoerig	CDU	37.5
	2013			47.5
	2017			44.6
	2021			33.8

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Diepholz – Nienburg 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	%	±%
	CDU	Y Axel Knoerig		49,116	33.8	10.8	36,915	25.3	12.6
	SPD	Peggy Schierenbeck		46,455	31.9	4.6	48,196	33.0	7.6
	Greens	Sylvia Holste-Hagen		19,702	13.5	5.9	21,139	14.5	6.3
	FDP	Jan Andreas Hinderks		13,671	9.4	2.4	17,628	12.1	1.5
	AfD	Alfons Muhle		9,683	6.7	1.5	10,372	7.1	1.3
	Left	Jürgen Abelmann		4,029	2.8	2.5	3,920	2.7	3.4
	Tierschutzpartei						1,774	1.2	0.3
	dieBasis	Detlev Pigors		2,111	1.5		1,722	1.2
	FW						1,322	0.9	0.5
	PARTEI						1,294	0.9	0.1
	Independent	Rüdiger Gums		727	0.5
	Pirates						465	0.3	0.0
	Team Todenhöfer						395	0.3
	Volt						228	0.2
	NPD						123	0.1	0.2
	Humanists						118	0.1
	ÖDP						113	0.1	0.1
	V-Partei3						98	0.1	0.1
	du.						78	0.1
	LKR						39	0.0
	MLPD						21	0.0	0.0
	DKP						12	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,460			982
Total valid votes				145,494			145,972
Turnout				146,954	75.6	0.9
	CDU hold		Majority	2,661	1.9	15.4

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Diepholz – Nienburg 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	%	±%
	CDU	Y Axel Knoerig		65,465	44.6	2.9	55,833	37.9	5.6
	SPD	Tevfik Özkan		40,102	27.3	6.1	37,505	25.5	6.0
	AfD	Karl-Heinz Gerd Breternitz		11,955	8.1	5.6	12,434	8.4	5.0
	Greens	Klaus-Joachim Schmelz		11,252	7.7	0.1	11,992	8.1	0.0
	FDP	Alexander Carapinha-Hesse		10,285	7.0	5.0	15,515	10.5	5.6
	Left	Jürgen Abelmann		7,759	5.3	1.8	8,951	6.1	1.6
	Tierschutzpartei						1,353	0.9	0.1
	PARTEI						1,104	0.7
	FW						668	0.5
	Pirates						476	0.3	1.2
	NPD						366	0.2	0.6
	BGE						258	0.2
	ÖDP						219	0.1
	DM						206	0.1
	V-Partei³						191	0.1
	DiB						162	0.1
	MLPD						28	0.0	0.0
	DKP						17	0.0
Informal votes				1,480			1,020
Total valid votes				146,818			147,278
Turnout				148,298	76.5	2.7
	CDU hold		Majority	25,363	17.3	3.2

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Diepholz – Nienburg 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	%	±%
	CDU	Y Axel Knoerig		66,862	47.5	9.9	61,404	43.5	9.7
	SPD	Christoph Lanzendörfer		47,067	33.4	1.0	44,431	31.5	3.8
	Greens	Torsten Eggelmann		10,651	7.6	0.9	11,556	8.2	1.8
	Left	Ingo Waschner		4,933	3.5	3.5	6,359	4.5	3.8
	AfD	Arno Heinz Staschewski		3,571	2.5		4,840	3.4
	FDP	Marcel Schiller		2,797	2.0	9.4	6,929	4.9	10.8
	Pirates	Mario Gärtner		2,166	1.5		2,143	1.5	0.2
	NPD	Bernd Neumann		1,288	0.9	0.3	1,175	0.8	0.2
	Tierschutzpartei						1,196	0.8	0.1
	FW	Olaf Schulz		903	0.6		673	0.5
	Independent	Rüdiger Gums		616	0.4
	PRO						169	0.1
	PBC						137	0.1
	REP						102	0.1
	MLPD						21	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,496			1,215
Total valid votes				140,854			141,135
Turnout				142,350	73.7	0.4
	CDU hold		Majority	19,795	14.1	11.1

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Diepholz – Nienburg 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	%	±%
	CDU	Axel Knoerig		52,599	37.5	1.5	47,565	33.8	0.4
	SPD	N Rolf Kramer		48,313	34.5	11.3	38,955	27.7	14.0
	FDP	Horst Gaumann		15,928	11.4	6.4	22,067	15.7	5.0
	Greens	Stefanie Henneke		11,917	8.5	3.0	13,999	10.0	2.6
	Left	Ulrich Vanek		9,775	7.0	3.4	11,701	8.3	4.0
	Pirates						2,453	1.7
	NPD	Dietrich Seidel		1,660	1.2	0.0	1,442	1.0	0.2
	Tierschutzpartei						1,059	0.8	0.2
	RRP						937	0.7
	DVU						193	0.1
	ÖDP						143	0.1
	MLPD						27	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,646			1,315
Total valid votes				140,192			140,523
Turnout				141,838	73.3	5.7
	CDU gain from SPD		Majority	4,286	3.1