Kleve (electoral district)

Kleve 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 111. It is located in western North Rhine-Westphalia, comprising the district of Kleve.^[1]

111 Kleve
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Kleve in 2025
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Population	312,500 (2019)
Electorate	225,463 (2021)
Major settlements	Kleve Goch Geldern
Area	1,233.0 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	CDU
Member	Stefan Rouenhoff
Elected	2017, 2021

Kleve was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2017, it has been represented by Stefan Rouenhoff of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).^[2]

Geography

Kleve is located in western North Rhine-Westphalia. As of the 2021 federal election, it is coterminous with the Kleve district.^[1]

History

Kleve was created in 1949, then known as Geldern – Kleve. It acquired its current name in the 1965 election. In the 1949 election, it was North Rhine-Westphalia constituency 26 in the numbering system. From 1953 through 1961, it was number 85. From 1965 through 1976, it was number 83. From 1980 through 1998, it was number 81. From 2002 through 2009, it was number 113. In the 2013 through 2021 elections, it was number 112. From the 2025 election, it has been number 111.

Originally, the constituency comprised the districts of Geldern and Kleve. In the 1965 through 1976 elections, it comprised the Geldern and Kleve districts as well as the municipalities of Rheinberg, Xanten, Alpen, and Sonsbeck from the Moers district. Since 1980, it has been coterminous with the Kleve district.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	26	Geldern – Kleve	Geldern district Kleve district
1953	85
1957
1961
1965	83	Kleve	Geldern district Kleve district Moers district (only Rheinberg, Xanten, Alpen, and Sonsbeck municipalities)
1969
1972
1976
1980	81		Kleve district
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	113
2005
2009
2013	112
2017
2021
2025	111

Members

The constituency has been held continuously by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 1949. It was first represented by Martin Frey from 1949 to 1953, followed by Emil Solke until 1961, Felix von Vittinghoff-Schell until 1969, and Solke again until 1976. Jochen van Aerssen then served from 1976 to 1983. Heinrich Seesing was representative from 1983 to 1994. Ronald Pofalla served from 1949 to 2017. Stefan Rouenhoff has been representative since the 2017 election.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	Martin Frey	CDU	60.0
	1953	Emil Solke	CDU	73.1
	1957			75.6
	1961	Felix von Vittinghoff-Schell	CDU	70.6
	1965			68.2
	1969	Emil Solke	CDU	63.5
	1972			58.7
	1976	Jochen van Aerssen	CDU	60.3
	1980			55.5
	1983	Heinrich Seesing	CDU	60.2
	1987			55.2
	1990			52.5
	1994	Ronald Pofalla	CDU	50.9
	1998			47.3
	2002			46.1
	2005			50.3
	2009			48.9
	2013			50.9
	2017	Stefan Rouenhoff	CDU	45.0
	2021			37.6

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Kleve[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	%	±%
	CDU	Y Stefan Rouenhoff		63,701	37.6	7.4	54,793	32.3	9.3
	SPD	Bodo Wißen		48,142	28.4	2.2	47,837	28.2	4.7
	Greens	Friederike Janitza		23,477	13.9	8.9	23,587	13.9	7.9
	FDP	Georg Cluse		14,821	8.7	1.2	19,542	11.5	2.0
	AfD	Gerd Plorin		9,788	5.8	0.8	9,632	5.7	1.3
	Left	Norbert Hayduk		4,235	2.5	1.7	4,728	2.8	2.8
	Human Environment Animal Protection						2,386	1.4	0.7
	FW	Adriana Hellmann		3,409	2.0	1.1	1,488	0.9	0.5
	dieBasis	Andreas Reiß		1,892	1.1		1,628	1.0
	PARTEI						1,438	0.8	0.3
	Pirates						605	0.4	0.0
	Volt						396	0.2
	Team Todenhöfer						297	0.2
	LIEBE						241	0.1
	Gesundheitsforschung						224	0.1	0.0
	LfK						167	0.1
	NPD						150	0.1	0.1
	Humanists						121	0.1	0.0
	ÖDP						115	0.1	0.0
	V-Partei3						107	0.1	0.0
	du.						77	0.0
	Bündnis C						60	0.0
	PdF						60	0.0
	MLPD						28	0.0	0.0
	LKR						28	0.0
	DKP						17	0.0	0.0
	SGP						15	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,628			1,326
Total valid votes				169,465			169,767
Turnout				171,093	75.9	1.1
	CDU hold		Majority	15,559	9.2	5.2

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Kleve[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	Stefan Rouenhoff		75,375	45.0	5.9	69,700	41.6	7.0
	SPD	Barbara Hendricks		51,197	30.6	2.5	39,316	23.5	3.6
	FDP	Ralf Klapdor		12,692	7.6	4.4	22,687	13.5	7.9
	AfD	Gerd Plorin		11,019	6.6	3.2	11,621	6.9	3.0
	Greens	Bruno Jöbkes		8,230	4.9	0.9	10,098	6.0	0.1
	Left	Ferdinand Niemann		7,096	4.2		9,366	5.6	1.0
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,170	0.7
	PARTEI						969	0.6	0.3
	FW	Stephan Heintze		1,606	1.0		614	0.4	0.2
	Pirates						560	0.3	1.7
	NPD						330	0.2	0.6
	V-Partei³						171	0.1
	Independent	Willi Bovenkerk		168	0.1
	DiB						165	0.1
	ÖDP						157	0.1	0.0
	Gesundheitsforschung						142	0.1
	BGE						135	0.1
	Volksabstimmung						125	0.1	0.1
	DM						120	0.1
	Die Humanisten						73	0.0
	MLPD						63	0.0	0.0
	AD-DEMOKRATEN						56	0.0
	DKP						15	0.0
	SGP						5	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,674			1,399
Total valid votes				167,383			167,658
Turnout				169,057	74.8	3.1
	CDU hold		Majority	24,178	14.4	3.4

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Kleve[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 Ronald Pofalla		81,216	50.9	2.0	77,833	48.6	6.4
	SPD	Barbara Hendricks		52,778	33.1	3.5	43,253	27.0	3.5
	Greens	Bruno Jöbkes		9,220	5.8	0.7	9,856	6.2	1.7
	FDP	Ralf Klapdor		5,003	3.1	6.2	9,094	5.7	10.4
	Left						7,322	4.6	1.5
	AfD	Gerd Plorin		5,316	3.3		6,300	3.9
	Pirates	Michael Peters		4,327	2.7		3,212	2.0	0.6
	NPD	Viktor Schlak		1,630	1.0		1,293	0.8	0.1
	PARTEI						377	0.2
	PRO						306	0.2
	Volksabstimmung						280	0.2	0.1
	FW						234	0.1
	ÖDP						198	0.1	0.0
	Nichtwahler						137	0.1
	REP						115	0.1	0.1
	Party of Reason						101	0.1
	RRP						94	0.1	0.0
	BIG						47	0.0
	MLPD						31	0.0	0.0
	Die Rechte						30	0.0
	BüSo						24	0.0	0.0
	PSG						23	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,383			1,713
Total valid votes				159,490			160,160
Turnout				161,873	71.7	1.6
	CDU hold		Majority	28,438	17.8	1.5

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Kleve[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	Y Ronald Pofalla		76,480	48.9	1.4	66,161	42.2	2.2
	SPD	Barbara Hendricks		46,290	29.6	7.6	36,810	23.5	9.6
	FDP	Paul Friedhoff		14,620	9.4	4.4	25,249	16.1	5.4
	Greens	Bruno Jöbkes		10,148	6.5	2.8	12,355	7.9	2.3
	Left	Axel Gonder		8,787	5.6	2.6	9,566	6.1	2.3
	Pirates						2,277	1.5
	NPD						1,045	0.7	0.1
	Human Environment Animal Protection						974	0.6	0.1
	FAMILIE						819	0.5	0.1
	RENTNER						511	0.3
	REP						299	0.2	0.0
	RRP						166	0.1
	ÖDP						138	0.1
	Volksabstimmung						115	0.1	0.0
	DVU						95	0.1
	Centre						90	0.1	0.0
	BüSo						29	0.0	0.0
	MLPD						25	0.0	0.0
	PSG						15	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,128			1,714
Total valid votes				156,325			156,739
Turnout				158,453	70.1	7.8
	CDU hold		Majority	30,190	19.3	6.2

References

1. "Constituency Kleve". Federal Returning Officer.
2. "Results for Kleve". Federal Returning Officer.
3. Results for Kleve
4. Results for Kleve
5. Results for Kleve
6. Results for Kleve