Cologne II () is an electoral constituency (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

: ''Wahlkreis'') represented in the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

. It elects one member via

first-past-the-post voting First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...

. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 93. It is located in western

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, comprising the southwestern part of the city of

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

. Cologne II was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2021, it has been represented by

Sven Lehmann Sven Lehmann (born 14 December 1979) is a German politician of Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2017. In addition to his parliamentary work, Lehmann served a ...

of the

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (, ), often simply referred to as Greens (, ), is a Green (politics), green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of the Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (formed in East Ger ...

Geography

Cologne II is located in western

. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the southwestern part of the independent city of Cologne, specifically the

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

Rodenkirchen Rodenkirchen () is a southern borough (''Stadtbezirk'') of Cologne (Köln) in Germany. It has about 110,000 inhabitants and covers an area of . The borough includes the quarters Bayenthal, Godorf, Hahnwald, Immendorf, Marienburg, Meschenich, R ...

, Lindenthal, and the ''Stadtteile'' of Altstadt-Süd and Neustadt-Süd from Innenstadt.

History

Cologne II was created in 1949. In the 1949 election, it was North Rhine-Westphalia constituency 8 in the numbering system. From 1953 through 1961, it was number 67. From 1965 through 1998, it was number 60. From 2002 through 2009, it was number 95. In the 2013 through 2021 elections, it was number 94. From the 2025 election, it has been number 93. Originally, the constituency comprised the area of Cologne on the left bank of the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

south of the line made by Aachener Straße and Innere Kanalstraße. In the 1965 through 1976 elections, it comprised Bayenthal,

Zollstock Zollstock is a district () of Cologne in the borough () of Rodenkirchen. Situated west of the river Rhine, Zollstock was first mentioned in 1877 and experienced increased development from the 1880s onwards. Since 1901, the district has housed th ...

, Klettenberg, Sülz, Lindenthal, Müngersdorf, and Ehrenfeld south of Subbelrather Straße. In the 1980 through 1998 elections, it comprised Rodenkirchen and Lindenthal. It acquired its current borders in the 2002 election.

Members

The constituency was first represented by Hermann Pünder of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1949 to 1957, followed by fellow CDU members

Fritz Hellwig Fritz Hellwig (3 August 1912 – 22 July 2017) was a German CDU politician and European Commissioner. He was born in Saarbrücken and turned 100 in August 2012. and died on 22 July 2017 at the age of 104. He died at age 104, being the last ...

until 1961 and Carl Hesberg until 1969. It was won by the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

(SPD) in 1969 and represented by Katharina Focke. She was succeeded in 1980 by Anke Fuchs for a single term. The CDU regained the constituency in 1983, and Heribert Blens served from then until 1998, when former member Fuchs was elected representative for another term. She was succeeded by in 2002 by fellow SPD member

Lale Akgün Dr. Lale Akgün (born 17 September 1953 in Istanbul, Turkey) is a German politician and member of the SPD. She served as an MP for Cologne II electoral district in the German Bundestag from 2002 to 2009. Life Lale Akgün's Turkish family ...

. Michael Paul of the CDU won the constituency in 2009 and served until 2013.

Heribert Hirte Heribert Hirte (born 31 March 1958) is a German legal scholar and politician of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia from 201 ...

was elected in 2013 and re-elected in 2017. Sven Lehmann of the Greens won the constituency in 2021 and was re-elected in 2025.

Election results

2025 election

2021 election

2017 election

2013 election

2009 election

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cologne II Federal electoral districts in North Rhine-Westphalia Politics of Cologne Constituencies established in 1949 1949 establishments in West Germany