Behind the scenes of Wahl-O-Mat

For many voters, filling out the Wahl-O-Mat of the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung is part of the election process. Whether out of curiosity, as a decision-making aid or out of general political interest. Accordingly, the Wahl-O-Mat has established itself as an offer to help voters make their decision. Over the years, the Wahl-O-Mat has repeatedly been exposed to controversies, for example regarding the selection of questions, the possibility to compare parties and the pre-selection of parties, which ultimately led to legal disputes and even resulted in the Wahl-O-Mat being shut down for a short time.  

The theses that Wahl-O-Mat offers as a decision-making aid are developed by a youth editorial team, which is supported by experts from science, journalism and political education. Together with Marie-Lena Nelle, member of the youth editorial team for the Berlin House of Representatives election, we want to discuss the Wahl-O-Mat for the upcoming Berlin House of Representatives election on 12 February 2023 as well as the political participation of young people in particular. Questions we want to discuss with Marie-Lena Nelle: How is the editorial team for Wahl-O-Mat composed? How does the selection process of the different theses for the Wahl-O-Mat work in detail? To what extent are the political interests of young people taken into account in the Wahl-O-Mat, when only people over the age of 18 are eligible to vote in Berlin’s parliamentary elections? In your opinion, what effect does the voting age have on election results?

The event will be in english. We are very pleased about your participation. We kindly ask you to register online by 07.02.2023.