Which party suits me? The test as a smartphone app for the 2021 elections

The federal election in 2021 is pending and there are only a few weeks left until the decisive cross. But which party suits me? If you are still undecided, you can do the test using the “WahlSwiper” on your smartphone.

“WahlSwiper” is a mixture of Wahl-O-Mat and Tinder. 36 questions are asked about the upcoming election. Your answers will be compared with those from politics in order to find the perfect match in the form of a party. GIGA tried the smartphone app.

WahlSwiper 2021: Who should I vote for?

The 2021 federal election is just around the corner: “Abolish daycare fees, introduce referendums, legalize cannabis – yes or no?” You answer the questions by “swiping” to the left or right and you will receive a suggestion as to which parties fit the selected positions.

The app is available free of charge for iOS and Android, but the service can also be used simply in the browser by opening the WahlSwiper website opens.

Which party suits me best? What arguments do the political camps offer in the various subject areas? The answers are given by swiping left or right – we know that from the dating app Tinder. For a deeper understanding, there is an explanatory video for each question in the app.

You have to answer 36 current questions about politics, then you get an election recommendation for the federal election in 2021 in the form of a list. The list shows the percentage agreement of your own answers with the election manifestos of the parties. Unlike the Wahl-O-Maten 2021, you can not only select a handful of parties for the result, but also 35 candidates who hope for a cross in the 2021 election. This video of the 2017 federal election shows how this works in practice:

WahlSwiper for the Federal Parliament election 2021: Quick political decision-making

We swiped our way through the questions about the 2021 federal election within three minutes and received a comprehensible result. Questions can be optional double weightst be in order to give them a greater influence on the party’s proposals in the end. If you are unsure, you can simply skip questions by tapping the right arrow below.

The people behind the WahlSwiper app are according to their own information “A team around the political scientist Prof. Uwe Wagschal and journalists, political students, app developers, graphic artists, volunteers and video producers who worked together on the project in his spare time. We develop the content together with independent partners, such as universities. ”A new member of the team is the social activist Ali Can, who pushed the translations forward.

WahlSwiper is not only available for the upcoming election in German, but also in English, Russian, Turkish, Arabic, Persian and Kurdish. In addition to questions about the federal election in 2021, you can also have questions about the state elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the House of Representatives in Berlin answered here. These two elections will also take place at the end of September. So you can use the WahlSwiper to have the right party at hand for all voting slips. By the way, you can share the results with friends and contacts via other social media apps directly using the button provided.

In the video, political scientist Prof. Uwe Wagschal explains the WahlSwiper app:

Interesting for Amazon Echo owners: The WahlSwiper can also be called up via Alexa. The free Alexa skill “WahlSwiper” from MOVACT must be installed for this.

Conclusion: WahlSwiper is good and simple, but not sufficient for a solid voting decision

Reducing political questions to a yes-or-no answer is a very pragmatic approach. Movact’s project manager Matthias Bannert has a simple reason for this: You can only put a cross on the ballot paper. He is right and within the framework of the app and for what it is supposed to do, that’s absolutely fine.

The simple principle and the app itself naturally also have their limits and minor weaknesses. Of course, you shouldn’t see the result as the ultimate recommendation, but as a suggestion. In order to actually be sure to put the cross in the right place on September 26th, you should familiarize yourself with the election programs beyond the app.

With the best will in the world, WahlSwiper cannot replace a long process of political opinion-forming through reading, discussing and thinking. Sometimes you can only find your own answers if you have considered all the arguments and then sleep over them again. A quick swipe to the left or right could even lead to wrong decisions that one day you will regret. Immigration, economics and environmental policy are just three examples of complex issues that should be taken a little more time – and not just as a young voter.

We liked the WahlSwiper, it should especially help politically inexperienced voters to find their way around. Because let’s be honest: who reads all party programs? In this way, at least for these 36 questions, you get the corresponding answers very quickly and also a good overview of the many facets of current politics. However, the app should not be the sole decision criterion for the federal election in 2021.