Aachen I

Electoral constituency

86 Aachen I
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Aachen I in 2025
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Population	249,000 (2019)
Electorate	176,306 (2021)
Major settlements	Aachen
Area	160.9 km²
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	GRÜNE
Member	Oliver Krischer
Elected	2021

Aachen 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 86. It is located in western North Rhine-Westphalia, comprising the city of Aachen.^[1]

Aachen I was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2021, it has been represented by Oliver Krischer of the Alliance 90/The Greens.^[2]

Geography

Aachen I is located in western North Rhine-Westphalia. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the city of Aachen from the Städteregion Aachen.^[1]

History

Aachen I was created in 1949, then known as Aachen-Stadt. From 1980 through 2009, it was named Aachen. It acquired its current name in the 2013 election. In the 1949 election, it was North Rhine-Westphalia constituency 1 in the numbering system. In the 1949 through 1961 elections, it was number 60. From 1965 through 1998, it was number 53. From 2002 through 2009, it was number 88. In the 2013 through 2021 elections, it was number 87. From the 2025 election, it has been number 86. While its borders have not changed since its creation, the former independent city of Aachen was incorporated into the Städteregion Aachen in 2009.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	1	Aachen-Stadt	Aachen city
1953	60
1957
1961
1965	53
1969
1972
1976
1980		Aachen
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	88
2005
2009
2013	87	Aachen I	Städteregion Aachen (only Aachen municipality)
2017
2021
2025	86

Members

The constituency was first represented by Helene Weber of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1949 to 1957, followed by fellow CDU member Franz Meyers until 1961 and Edmund Sinn from 1961 to 1969. Former Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia Franz Josef Bach of the CDU served a single term from 1969 to 1972, when the constituency was won by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) candidate Dieter Schinzel. The CDU regained it in 1976 with candidate Hans Stercken, who served until 1994. Future Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia and federal CDU leader Armin Laschet then served from 1994 to 1998. Ulla Schmidt of the SPD was elected in 1998 and served three terms. She served as Federal Minister of Health from 2001 to 2009. Rudolf Henke won the constituency for the CDU in 2009, and was re-elected in 2013 and 2017. Oliver Krischer of the Greens was elected in 2021.

	Member	Party	%
1949	Helene Weber	CDU	53.2
1953	Helene Weber	CDU	57.7
1957	Franz Meyers	CDU	62.6
1961	Edmund Sinn	CDU	54.9
1965	Edmund Sinn	CDU	53.8
1969	Franz Josef Bach	CDU	49.6
1972	Dieter Schinzel	SPD	47.3
1976	Hans Stercken	CDU	48.2
1980			45.9
1983			50.2
1987			46.5
1990			45.0
1994	Armin Laschet	CDU	46.2
1998	Ulla Schmidt	SPD	47.3
2002			47.4
2005			40.5
2009	Rudolf Henke	CDU	39.4
2013			40.7
2017			33.7
2021	Oliver Krischer	GRÜNE	30.2

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Aachen 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	%	±%
	Greens	Oliver Krischer		41,942	30.2	20.8	40,421	29.0	16.2
	CDU	N Rudolf Henke		35,562	25.6	8.1	31,772	22.8	5.0
	SPD	Ye-One Rhie		33,087	23.8	8.7	30,588	22.0	2.8
	FDP	Katharina Willkomm		10,906	7.9	0.5	15,032	10.8	3.4
	Left	Andrej Hunko		6,161	4.4	4.4	7,453	5.4	5.0
	AfD	Roger Lebien		5,314	3.8	1.8	5,427	3.9	2.0
	PARTEI	Elke Zobel		3,058	2.2		1,632	1.2	0.0
	Volt						1,389	1.0
	dieBasis	Stephan Korupp		1,502	1.1		1,342	1.0
	Tierschutzpartei						1,151	0.8	0.3
	Team Todenhöfer						871	0.6
	Pirates						542	0.4	0.2
	FW	Hans-Jürgen Fink		849	0.6		531	0.4	0.2
	Independent	Niklas Teßmann		410	0.3
	Humanists						268	0.2	0.1
	ÖDP						224	0.2	0.3
	Independent	Adonis Böving		122	0.1
	V-Partei3						104	0.1	0.1
	LIEBE						88	0.1
	Gesundheitsforschung						72	0.1	0.0
	du.						70	0.1
	LfK						67	0.0
	Bündnis C						53	0.0
	NPD						44	0.0	0.1
	DKP						42	0.0	0.0
	PdF						33	0.0
	MLPD						30	0.0	0.0
	LKR						25	0.0
	PSG						22	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,107			727
Total valid votes				138,913			139,293
Turnout				140,020	79.4	1.0
	Greens gain from CDU		Majority	6,380	4.6

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Aachen 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 Rudolf Henke		47,011	33.7	7.0	38,827	27.8	8.8
	SPD	Ulla Schmidt		45,309	32.5	2.8	34,663	24.8	2.5
	Greens	Katrin Feldmann		13,104	9.4	0.4	17,918	12.8	0.3
	Left	Andrej Hunko		12,282	8.8	2.6	14,459	10.3	2.7
	FDP	Cliff Gatzweiler		10,232	7.3	5.2	19,795	14.2	7.9
	AfD	Markus Mohr		7,817	5.6	3.4	8,271	5.9	2.8
	Pirates	Matthias Achilles		2,176	1.6	1.9	838	0.6	2.9
	PARTEI						2,595	1.1	0.6
	Tierschutzpartei						697	0.5
	ÖDP	Nico Riedemann		1,426	1.0		608	0.4	0.3
	AD-DEMOKRATEN						435	0.3
	DiB						382	0.3
	FW						251	0.2	0.2
	Die Humanisten						191	0.1
	BGE						182	0.1
	V-Partei³						177	0.1
	NPD						149	0.1	0.4
	DM						131	0.1
	Volksabstimmung						67	0.0	0.1
	Gesundheitsforschung						64	0.0
	MLPD						55	0.0	0.0
	DKP						28	0.0
	SGP						18	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,267			823
Total valid votes				139,357			139,801
Turnout				140,624	78.4	3.7
	CDU hold		Majority	1,702	1.2	4.2

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Aachen 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 Rudolf Henke		54,175	40.7	1.3	48,728	36.6	4.7
	SPD	Ulla Schmidt		46,907	35.3	5.3	36,432	27.3	4.9
	Greens	Andreas Mittelstädt		11,931	9.0	4.4	17,485	13.1	3.0
	Left	Andrej Hunko		8,225	6.2	1.2	10,212	7.7	0.8
	Pirates	Marc Salgert		4,541	3.4		4,669	3.5	0.2
	AfD	Uwe Bahmann		2,961	2.2		4,149	3.1
	FDP	Birgit Haveneth		2,883	2.2	6.8	8,401	6.3	8.8
	PARTEI						784	0.6
	NPD	Felix van der Lee		743	0.6	0.3	680	0.5	0.1
	FW	Heinrich Pesch		605	0.5		555	0.4
	ÖDP						221	0.2	0.1
	PRO						160	0.1
	Nichtwahler						149	0.1
	Volksabstimmung						137	0.1
	BIG						123	0.1
	REP						116	0.1	0.1
	Party of Reason						91	0.1
	Die Rechte						46	0.0
	RRP						40	0.0	0.1
	MLPD						25	0.0	0.0
	BüSo						17	0.0	0.0
	PSG						14	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,476			1,213
Total valid votes				132,971			133,234
Turnout				134,447	74.7	1.1
	CDU hold		Majority	7,268	5.4	4.1

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Aachen^[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	Rudolf Henke		50,703	39.4	0.3	41,146	31.9	0.9
	SPD	N Ulla Schmidt		38,523	29.9	10.6	28,937	22.4	10.8
	Greens	Jochen Luczak		17,241	13.4	4.2	20,765	16.1	1.7
	FDP	Petra Müller		11,554	9.0	3.5	19,464	15.1	3.6
	Left	Andrej Hunko		9,520	7.4	2.5	10,911	8.5	2.5
	Pirates						4,837	3.7
	NPD	Oliver Harf		1,088	0.8	0.1	789	0.6	0.0
	Tierschutzpartei						672	0.5	0.1
	FAMILIE						385	0.3	0.0
	RENTNER						314	0.2
	REP						221	0.2	0.0
	ÖDP						149	0.1
	RRP						149	0.1
	Volksabstimmung						87	0.1	0.0
	Centre						62	0.0
	DVU						54	0.0
	MLPD						34	0.0	0.0
	BüSo						32	0.0	0.0
	PSG						9	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,582			1,194
Total valid votes				128,629			129,017
Turnout				130,211	73.6	5.2
	CDU gain from SPD		Majority	12,180	9.5