Gütersloh () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the area of Westphalia and the administrative region of Detmold. Gütersloh is the administrative centre for a district of the same name and has a population of 100,194 people. Geography Gütersloh lies in the Emssandebene, south-west of the Teutoburg Forest and on the north-eastern edge of the Westphalian Basin and has no significant points of elevation. The city's lowest point is above sea level on the river Ems near the Princess Royal Barracks and the highest point is above sea level in the eastern township of Friedrichsdorf. The border to Rheda-Wiedenbrück extends as part of the Rhedaer Forest, a large wooded area with predominantly conifers. The river Dalke flows through the city from east to west, crossing close to the Stadt Park as well as the city centre and river Ems. Gütersloh railway station is on the Hamm–Minden line. History The then-official district of Gütersloh included the city of the same name. It also included seven other municipalities: Avenwedde, Ebbesloh, Friedrichsdorf, Hollen, Isselhorst, Niehorst and Spexard; which existed until 1969 and were incorporated as part of the 1969 North Rhine-Westphalian municipal reform. Currently, all of them are now municipal sub-division units within Gütersloh's borders. Politics Mayor The current mayor of Gütersloh is Norbert Morkes, elected in September 2020. He ran on behalf of the voter group Bürger für Gütersloh (Citizens for Gütersloh, BfGT). The most recent mayoral election was held on 13 September 2020, with a runoff held on 27 September, and the results were as follows: ! rowspan=2 colspan=2| Candidate ! rowspan=2| Party ! colspan=2| First round ! colspan=2| Second round |- ! Votes ! % ! Votes ! % |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Henning Schulz | align=left| Christian Democratic Union | 13,772 | 36.1 | 12,761 | 42.1 |- | | align=left| Norbert Morkes | align=left| Citizens for Gütersloh | 9,580 | 25.1 | 17,521 | 57.9 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Gitte Trostmann | align=left| Alliance 90/The Greens | 8,124 | 21.3 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Volker Richter | align=left| Social Democratic Party | 5,836 | 15.3 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Manfred Reese | align=left| The Left | 811 | 2.1 |- ! colspan=3| Valid votes ! 38,123 ! 98.8 ! 30,282 ! 98.6 |- ! colspan=3| Invalid votes ! 499 ! 1.3 ! 431 ! 1.4 |- ! colspan=3| Total ! 38,622 !