Vorpommern-Rügen – Vorpommern-Greifswald I

Vorpommern-Rügen – Vorpommern-Greifswald I is an electoral constituency (German: Wahlkreis) represented in the German Bundestag. Part of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the constituency elects one representative under the mixed member proportional representation (MMP) system using first past the post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 15.

The constituency was created as part of the 2012 federal boundary review, which saw the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern lose one of its 18 geographic constituencies as a result of population change. The constituency of Mecklenburg-Strelitz - Uecker-Randow was abolished, which in turn mandated changes to the boundaries of six nearby constituencies.Vorpommern-Rügen – Vorpommern-Greifswald I was created chiefly from the constituency of Stralsund – Nordvorpommern – Rügen, and took its district number of 15.

The constituency has been held since it was first contested in 2013 by the Christian Democratic Union's Angela Merkel, Federal Chancellor since 2005. It is considered a safe seat for the CDU. Merkel had previously represented Stralsund – Nordvorpommern – Rügen for six consecutive terms from 1990 to 2013. In the 2009 federal election, Merkel won the seat on its old boundaries by 23 percentage points over her nearest opponent, but boundary changes reduced her notional margin of victory to 20%. However, in 2013, Merkel increased her majority to 37%.

Merkel was re-elected to the Bundestag with an absolute majority when the constituency was first contested for the 2013 federal election, increasing her share of the vote by nearly 10%. Incumbent Bundestag list member for the SPD Sonja Steffen and Claudi Muller, chairman of the state Green Party, were among the eight candidates unsuccessfully tried to take the constituency from her. Her major opponent, Left Party candidate Karin Kassner, was elected to the Bundestag for the first time on statewide second votes despite a poor performance on first votes in the district. FDP candidate Gino Leonhard suffered a particularly humiliating defeat, dropping from fourth to seventh place since 2009 and finishing behind both the controversial Pirate Party and the far-right National Democratic Party.

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