Berlin Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg – Prenzlauer Berg East (electoral district)

Location of constituency in Berlin

Berlin Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg- - Prenzlauer Berg East is one of the 299 single member constituencies used for the German parliament, the Bundestag. Located east of Berlin centre, it was created for the 2002 election and is the only single member constituency in the Bundestag to be represented by Alliance '90/The Greens (GR).^[1]

History and boundaries

The constituency, numbered constituency 84 by the German electoral authorities,^[2] contains the whole of the Berlin borough of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. This borough, a merger of two former boroughs, was created by a 2001 administrative reform and joined two areas which are linked only by one single bridge over the Spree river, the Oberbaumbrücke. The constituency also includes the eastern section of Prenzlauer Berg in the borough of Pankow. The constituency was created for the first time for the 2002 election when the number of constituencies in Berlin was reduced from 13 to 12. Together with Berlin Mitte, which was also created for the 2002 election, it is the first time that a constituency has included parts of the former East Berlin and West Berlin. The constituency contains a number of Berlin landmarks such as the East Side Gallery the longest surviving stretch of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin Ostbahnhof historically one of the two main railway stations in Berlin, the Joseph Stalin era Karl-Marx-Allee and the towers at Frankfurter Tor.

Each section of the new constituency had previously been an eponymous part of one of the three previous constituencies of Berlin Kreuzberg - Schöneberg, Berlin Friedrichshain - Lichtenberg and Berlin Mitte - Prenzlauer Berg. Although the previous constituencies had been won by either the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) or the Left Party.PDS (PDS), the Kreuzberg - Schöneberg constituency had produced the Greens highest percentage vote share in any German constituency. Hans-Christian Ströbele, the former Kreuzberg - Schöneberg candidate won the new constituency for the Alliance '90/Green party, the first constituency seat to be won by the party.^[3] Although he won the constituency narrowly in 2002, he increased his majority in 2005 winning the largest percentage majority in Berlin.

Under the German election system, only parties which receive at least 5% of the vote nationwide or win three constituency seats qualify for list seats. After winning two constituencies, the failure of PDS to win a third seat here or in other seats where they had good prospects such as Berlin Pankow or Berlin Treptow proved significant for the overall result as it meant that the party missed out on 14 list seats.^[4]

Profile

The district has a large foreign born population of 19.8%, a figure exceeded in Berlin only by the neighbouring Berlin Mitte constituency ^[5] Excluding the Prenzlauer Berg section, the figure rises to 23.2% in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough while in the Kreuzberg district 31.6% were born outside Germany, the second highest figure in Berlin after the district of Wedding.^[6] The district often has levels of poverty and high unemployment - surpassing 20% of the working age population.^[7] Of those employed on 30 June 2004, 23% worked in Trade, transport and communications while 17.9% worked in Manufacturing. 24.3% of the population had qualifications which met the requirements for University entry.^[8]

Electoral system

Elections in Germany take place using the Additional Member System. Voters have two votes, one for a constituency MP and one for a regional list to elect representatives for the whole of Berlin city. Elections for the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg - Prenzlauer Berg East constituency take place using the First past the post system.

Results

2009 election

Federal election 2009[9]
Notes: Green 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. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party Votes	%	±%
	Green	Y Hans-Christian Ströbele		73,897	46.7%	+3.4%	43,347	27.4%	+5.5%
	Left	Halina Wawzyniak		27,796	17.6%	-0.5%	39,641	25.0%	+4.2%
	SPD	Björn Böhning		26,415	16.7%	-4.1%	32,015	22.2%	-17.1%
	CDU	Vera Lengsfeld		18,394	11.6%	+0.3%	18,788	11.9%	+0.8%
	FDP	Markus Löning		6,425	4.1%	+1.4%	9,693	6.1%	+1.6%
	NPD	Christian Steup		1,791	1.1%	-0.4%	1,436	0.9%	-0.3%
	Pirate	-		-	-	-	9,473	6.0%	6.0%
Informal votes				2,572			2,419
Total Valid votes				158,289			160,861
	Green hold		Majority	46,101	29.1%

2005 election

Out of a total electorate of 215,324, the total number of votes cast was 164,838 (76.6%) of which 3,034 votes were invalid.

Votes for other parties were: The Party 1,363 (0.8%), Stiewe 1,111 (0.7%), APPD 699 (0.4%) BüSo 329 (0.2%), HP 268 (0.2%) and Wendt 245 (0.2%)

2002 election

Out of a total electorate of 209,818 the total number of votes cast was 158,449 (75.5%) of which 2,582 where invalid.

Votes for other parties were: GRAY 1,951 (1.3%), DKP 322 (0.2%), Berger 479 (0.3%), Schettlinger 128 (0.1%).

References