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Find out which German party you would vote for in election 2017

The Federal Agency for Civic Education put its “Wahlomat” online on Wednesday, meaning you can answer 38 questions which will help you decide which party is right for you.

Published: 30 August 2017 15:30 CEST
Find out which German party you would vote for in election 2017
Election posters in Heilbronn. Photo: DPA

As we are a news site in English the likelihood is that most of our readers won’t be able to vote in the national election on September 24th. But those who can can use the Wahlomat to help them.

It was first created in 2002 and has since been used by 50 million Germans to help them pick their party, the bpb boasts.

The questions asked range from attitudes to using the Bundeswehr (German army) for domestic security, to organic farming, to returning to the Deutsche Mark.

CLICK HERE TO TRY OUT THE WAHLOMAT

People who use the Wahlomat respond to statements such as “Germany’s defence expenditure should be increased” with a simple choice of “agree”, “neutral” or “disagree.”

A YouGov poll published on Wednesday revealed that one third of Germans are planning to use the Wahlomat in the build up to the vote on September 24th.

The tool is especially popular among young people, with half of those aged 18 to 29 planning on using it. It is also more than twice as popular among well educated people as among those with a lower level of education.

Free Democrats leader Christian Lindner encouraged people on Twitter to use the tool on Wednesday, saying that the results might surprise them.

What do you think – did it pick the party you expected?

POLITICS

‘Dexit’ would cost Germany 690 billion euros and millions of jobs: economists

According to the German Economic Institute (IW), Germany's exit from the EU – the so-called Dexit – would cost millions of jobs and significantly reduce the country's prosperity.

Published: 19 May 2024 18:04 CEST
'Dexit' would cost Germany 690 billion euros and millions of jobs: economists

In a study presented by the Cologne-based institute on Sunday, the authors showed that a Dexit would cause real GDP to drop by 5.6 percent after just five years. This means that Germany would lose 690 billion euros in value creation during this time.

In addition, Germany as an export nation is dependent on trade with other countries, especially with other EU countries, warned the authors. Companies and consumers in Germany would therefore feel the consequences “clearly” and around 2.5 million jobs would be lost.

The study is based on the consequences of Britain’s exit from the EU, such as the loss of trade agreements and European workers.

Taken together, the losses in economic output in Germany in the event of a Dexit would be similar to those seen during Covid-19 and the energy cost crisis in the period from 2020 to 2023, the authors warned.

Brexit is therefore “not an undertaking worth imitating,” warned IW managing director Hubertus Bardt. Rather, Brexit is a “warning for other member states not to carelessly abandon economic integration.”

Leader of the far-right AfD party Alice Weidel described Great Britain’s exit from the European Union at the beginning of the year as a “model for Germany.”

In an interview published in the Financial Times, Weidel outlined her party’s approach in the event her party came to power: First, the AfD would try to resolve its “democratic deficit” by reforming the EU. If this was not successful, a referendum would be called on whether Germany should remain in the EU.

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