Wahl-O-Mat for the 2021 federal election: what you need to know about the popular tool

Just under three weeks until the federal election in 2021. If you are undecided, Wahl-O-Mat can help you with your decision.

Kassel - If you are unsure about the federal election in 2021 *, you can consult Wahl-O-Mat.

This was activated by the Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bpb) on Thursday (02.09.2021).

In the meantime, the online tool has become a tradition - a decision aid via the Internet.

Citizens can use 38 topics to compare their political attitudes with the positions of participating parties.

Bpb President Thomas Krüger spoke of the “most successful political education offering” since the Federal Office was founded.

authority	Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bpb)
founding year	1952
head office	Bonn (Germany)
State level	Federation
Tools	Wahl-O-Mat
Source: Bpb.de

The 2021 federal election is just one of the innovations that citizens in Germany can expect in September 2021, which could also be closely linked to new Corona * rules.

One of these rules - the mask requirement - made Armin Laschet (CDU) look anything but good on Twitter during his election campaign.

But also Chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock (Greens) had repeatedly made headlines in recent times.

Federal election 2021: Wahl-O-Mat now allows tuning

According to the operator, the Wahl-O-Mat was used almost 16 million times in the last federal election four years ago.

The tool has been in use since 2002. In addition to the federal elections, it is also used in European and state elections.

It can be used in the internet browser or as a standalone app.

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The Wahl-O-Mat of the Federal Agency for Civic Education can be consulted before the federal election in 2021.

© Christian Ohde / Imago

With the advancement of digitization and the expansion of websites, the options for Wahl-O-Mats also changed.

The tool was expanded to include additional features in 2021.

This includes tuning, among other things.

This function allows the user to observe how the ranking changes if an individual thesis is weighted differently.

Wahl-O-Mat in the federal election 2021: Federal headquarters reacts to criticism with a change

Another change is the broader comparison of one's own opinion with the positions of different parties.

In the past few years, it was only possible to compare a limited number of positions, but this was adjusted for the 2021 federal election.

Now all parties can be compared at a glance.

With the politics newsletter of the HNA you get all the new news about the federal election 2021 directly in your mailbox.

With this innovation, the Bpb reacted to a legal dispute before the European elections in 2019. One party had criticized that smaller parties would be disadvantaged by the limited number of settlements.

The Wahl-O-Mat had to be switched off temporarily in the course of this situation.

(jey / dpa)

* Hna.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA. 

List of rubric lists: © Christian Ohde / Imago