The Wahl-O-Mat for the 2024 European elections is online. Simply answer the questions and find out which parties are right for you. The Wahl-O-Mat was created based on the parties’ election programs.

You have been able to try out the Wahl-O-Mat on FOCUS Online since May 7th – and prepare yourself for the EU elections in a playful way. The offer can be used until the election. It will then be taken offline again as it is only made available for election preparation.

The Wahl-O-Mat for the European elections once again contains 38 theses. These are there to determine your personal preferences and interests and compare them with those of the competing parties.

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The Wahl-O-Mat concept allows users to classify theses and respond with “agree”, “disagree” or “neutral”. If no assessment is to be made, the thesis can be skipped. If you would only agree to a statement under certain conditions, the Federal Agency for Civic Education recommends answering “neutral”.

While answering, users can also edit theses that have already been answered. If certain theses are particularly important to them, users can assign them double weighting.

For the evaluation, users can choose for themselves how many and with which parties their own position should be compared. If you vote for a thesis, a party that also agreed gets two points.

In return: If the user rejects a thesis but the party has agreed to it, the party receives zero points. If the answer is neutral, you get one point. If certain theses are particularly important to users, they can assign them double weighting.

A bar chart showed which parties had the greatest agreement with.

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Identical theses are sent to all parties in advance. Those responsible answer the questions based on the interests and plans of the parties.

After the parties send the answers back, the makers of the Wahl-O-Mats check the answers again and compare them with the election programs. In this way, unintentional errors by the parties can be identified and changed after consultation.

A total of 35 parties and associations supported the Wahl-O-Mat for the 2024 European elections – these are all the parties standing for election in Germany:

An editorial team consisting of young and first-time voters develops the theses for the Wahl-O-Mat. You will be advised and supported by political scientists, experts, educators and statisticians.

The theses are based on important topics that are important for Europe. Care is taken to ensure that different areas are served.

The Wahl-O-Mat has been in use for many years, but it has not always been without controversy. During the last European elections, for example, the Federal Agency for Civic Education had to temporarily switch off the Wahl-O-Mat after the Cologne administrative court banned its continued operation. Specifically, the judges criticized the reporting mechanism of the evaluation. It was a de facto disadvantage for smaller and lesser-known parties that users could compare their political views with the positions of only up to eight parties at the time. The mechanism violates the right to equal opportunities.

One of the smaller parties who felt disadvantaged by the previous directive had complained. Ultimately, however, an agreement was reached out of court on a change through which users can now decide for themselves the number of parties compared with their results.

“From our point of view, the Wahl-O-Mat is and was constitutional in its current form,” explained the President of the Federal Center, Thomas Krüger, after the agreement. However, the settlement concluded “serves to make a legal decision on this issue unnecessary”.