Young heads shape the future: the latest theses for the Bundestag election!

As part of a workshop from December 19 to 21, 2024 in Bonn, young people from all over Germany worked on the development of the new Wahl-O-Mat for the Bundestag election 2025. Martin Hetterich, project manager for the Wahl-O-Mat at the Federal Center for Political Education (BPB), explained that the goal of the workshop was to develop theses, support voters in their election decision.

The Wahl-O-Mat, which was first introduced for the 2002 Bundestag election, is a central instrument of political education. 780 people applied for the workshop; 24 young voters were selected from these. The participants should form a various group to bring in different perspectives. Among the participants were Greta Diederich, a business education student from Jena, and Lukas Haas, an independent entrepreneur from Leipzig who volunteered and without allowance.

intensive work phase and program design

The work began with a digital pre -meeting in which the subject areas were distributed. An intensive work phase followed on site, in which theses were developed, evaluated and discussed. The group examined party programs, identified important topics and formulated controversial theses. Neutrality and diversity were central aspects of the workshop; The formulations should remain neutral. Experts accompanied the process to ensure non -partisanity.

The work took place under high time pressure, since the Bundestag election takes place earlier than usual. This will be held on February 23, 2025, in which the 21st German Bundestag is elected. The election entitlement presupposes that the voters are at least 18 years old on election day, German citizens and at least three months in Germany. The elections have two votes in the federal election: one first vote for direct candidates and a second vote for a party list. The allocation of mandate is bound to the results of the second vote. In the case of more voters than second votes in one federal state, not all candidates come to the train.

On February 6, 2025, a press conference will take place at which the parties will make their last statement on the theses, which will then incorporate into the final processing of the Wahl-O-Mat and will then be available online. Further information on deadlines, appointments, postal voting and participation for Germans abroad are available on the side of the Federal Election Manager or her Instagram account, as the Website for Political Education