National election NRW 2022 – Wahl-O-Mat: alternatives to the Wahlomat

Whether federal elections, regional elections or elections to the European Parliament – the Wahl-O-Mat can be consulted for all these elections as a decision aid. It was first used in 2002 and is becoming increasingly popular. In the 2021 federal election, it was played more than 21 million times on Election Day. It is now also available as an app for iPhone and Android.

The Wahl-O-Mat of the Federal Agency for Civic Education is based on a simple principle of questions and answers. With this, you can find out which party is closest to your own political position. It is therefore a question of adopting a position on important political questions. You express either your agreement or your disagreement with various theses. If you don’t have an opinion, you can abstain or skip the thesis. On the other hand, if you find a thesis particularly important, you can give it more weight. After positioning yourself on all statements, select the parties you want to compare your position with. Finally, a bar graph shows the result of the agreement in percentage. In addition, the justifications of the parties to the individual theses can be read in detail. The Wahl-O-Mat for national elections in NRW is available from April 21.

If you’re impatient and want to use a decision aid right now, you don’t have to use the Wahl-O-Mat. After all, there are currently alternatives that you can already use. These work similarly, but set different priorities.

• In terms of operation, the Bitkomat is identical to the Wahl-O-Mat. However, here is the problem digital policy in the foreground. You can compare your own number political preferences with a total of four of the most represented political parties in the state parliament. Just like with the Wahl-O-Mat, you submit your position on various theses. In the state elections in NRW, you can expect 17 state political topics in the areas of education and participation, politics and administration, digital economy and infrastructure, daily life and digital life as well as security and data protection. The Afd has decided not to participate. Therefore, no statement can be made as to agreement with the positions of this party.
• The dial reader is reminiscent of the dating app Tinder. Instead of people, political questions can be answered with a simple swipe left with “No” and right with “Yes”. A “maybe” is not an option here. It is therefore necessary to display its colors clearly. After answering all the questions, agreement with the parties’ answers is calculated. The project aims to show that it can be easy to form an opinion on elections. The election swiper for the regional elections in North Rhine-Westphalia will be available from April 8. This was confirmed by project spokesperson Matthias Bannert.
• With the Social-O-Mat, you can share your views on the major societal issues compare with the responses of the parties. The tool comes from the Diakonie Rheinland-Westfalen-Lippe (RWL). The aid organization surveyed all parties admitted to the national elections. You evaluate a total of 20 theses in the areas of family and children, poverty and the labor market, flight and integration, health and care, climate and housing. Each statement is accompanied by small examples taken from daily life.
• The DBfK-PflegOMat, on the other hand, provides care policy issues in the foreground. The German Professional Association for the Nursing Professions asked the parties to position themselves on the main demands of the association. This way you can use the tool to check which parties share their demands for better framework conditions in the nursing profession. The questionnaire cannot be used at the moment, it should be completed on April 15 unlocked.
• There were many other tools for the 2021 federal election. These include a tool focusing on feminist and gender equality issues (Wahltraut), a tool on climate protection policy (Klimawahlcheck) or a tool on agricultural policy issues (Agrar-O-Meter). It is not yet clear whether these can also be used for regional elections in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Here you will find all the latest news on the regional elections in North Rhine-Westphalia 2022.