Regional Elections in NRW 2025: A Comprehensive Look at the "Voting Pals"
In the upcoming municipal election in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), digital tools are being introduced to aid young voters in making informed decisions. However, specific details about these tools across cities like Düsseldorf, Essen, Duisburg, Cologne, and Solingen are scarce.
The city of Düsseldorf has launched a digital election helper called the "Wahlhelfer Düsseldorf". This interactive tool allows young voters to compare their positions with those of the parties on 30 communal political theses, including topics such as video surveillance in the old town and the controversial new construction of the opera. The topics for the "Wahlhelfer Düsseldorf" were selected by young people from Düsseldorf in a workshop.
Meanwhile, in Solingen, the Sol-O-Mat has been designed to cater to young voters. This decision-making tool was formulated by the Solingen Youth Council with 20 theses. Almost all parties and lists in Solingen participated in the Sol-O-Mat response.
Elsewhere, the University of Duisburg-Essen has created a local version of the Wahl-O-Mat for Essen, called the "Kommunalwahl-Navi". This tool, along with the "Kommunalwahl-Navi" for Duisburg, Oberhausen, Bochum, and Cologne, will be available in mid-August. The topics in the "Kommunalwahl-Navi" are specifically tailored to Essen and include local issues.
In Dortmund, the "Wahl-Buddy" has been developed with 25 points, but not all parties responded, and right-wing extremist parties like the NPD are not represented.
Another digital decision-making tool, the "lokal-o-mat", has been developed for ten cities specifically for the 2025 municipal election, including Aachen, Coesfeld, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Gütersloh, Haan, Cologne, Krefeld, Münster, and Witten.
It's worth noting that these digital tools are part of a broader trend towards digital voter engagement. Typically, digital election helpers might include online voter guides tailored to explain candidates and issues, interactive voting advice applications like the Wahl-O-Mat, and official municipal websites providing digital information and e-services related to voting.
With over 13.7 million people in NRW eligible to vote in the municipal election, these digital tools aim to make the voting process more accessible and informed for young voters. For detailed and city-specific information, checking the official election and city websites of Düsseldorf, Essen, Duisburg, Cologne, and Solingen, or contacting local election authorities, would be recommended.
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- In Düsseldorf and Solingen, the cities have developed their own unique digital election helpers, named "Wahlhelfer Düsseldorf" and Sol-O-Mat respectively, both of which are a kind of general-news tool used in politics to aid young voters in making informed decisions by comparing their positions with those of the parties on various communal political topics.
- Across cities like Essen, Duisburg, Cologne, and several others, the University of Duisburg-Essen has introduced the Kommunalwahl-Navi, a locally tailored digital decision-making tool, with specific topics related to each city, as part of a broader trend of integrating digital tools into politics to improve voter engagement.
