Wahl-O-Mat Hamburg 2025: Do the party check for the state election here!

One week after the early federal election, elections to the Hamburg Parliament, the state parliament of the Hanseatic city, will take place in Hamburg on March 2, 2025. The Wahl-O-Mat from the State Center for Political Education offers interested parties guidance on the parties' offerings.

The RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND) is the media partner of the Wahl-O-Mat of the State Agency for Civic Education in Hamburg and the Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb) in Bonn.

The Wahl-O-Mat is an interactive decision-making tool that has been offered by the Federal and State Centers for Political Education for state, federal and European elections since 2002. The Wahl-O-Mat allows you to compare the election manifestos of the parties running for election with your own political positions. The Wahl-O-Mat does not make an explicit recommendation for a party, but is intended to provide guidance.

In the last state election in Hamburg in 2020, the Wahl-O-Mat was used almost 334,000 times, according to the state headquarters.

Based on pre-selected theses on which users and the parties running for election take a position, it is possible to show where the greatest overlaps are.

Individual theses can be given special weighting and count double in the evaluation. An overview of the parties' answers and justifications to the theses can be accessed afterwards.

Users can comment on 38 theses in the Wahl-O-Mat Hamburg 2025. Most of these are about fundamental issues of economic, transport, security or social policy. But current debates about the deepening of the Elbe or the closed "Blue Mosque" are also taken up. The theses at a glance:

1. A new tram is to be built in Hamburg.
2. The Elbe fairway is to be further deepened to accommodate large container ships.
3. Further weapons-free zones are to be designated in the Hamburg city area.
4. In Hamburg, shops should also be allowed to open on Sundays .
5. In larger new construction projects, at least half of the housing units should be provided as social housing .
6. Hamburg schools will continue to provide information about gender and sexual diversity in their lessons.
7. Begging on buses, trains and at bus stops will continue to be prohibited in Hamburg.
8. The A26-East motorway ( “Hafenpassage” ) is to be completed as planned.
9. All refugees in Hamburg should have access to free German courses .
10. In Hamburg , district heating from coal combustion should also be allowed after 2030.
11. The Hamburg State Office for the Protection of the Constitution is to be abolished.
12. The Hanseatic city should continue to promote the naturalization of foreigners living in Hamburg.
13. More hospitals in Hamburg should be back in public hands.
14. If their grades are too poor, students will still have to move from the grammar school to the local school after the 6th grade .
15. The Imam Ali Mosque (“ Blue Mosque ”) is to be reopened as an Islamic place of worship.
16. In Hamburg, more streets are to be converted into bicycle streets .
17. Recipients of citizen’s allowance who reject job offers will continue to have their benefits reduced.
18. Youth parliaments must be established in all districts of Hamburg.
19. The trade tax is to be reduced.
20. Hamburg should continue to financially support projects against anti-Semitism .
21. The state should work to ensure that 30 km/h becomes the standard speed limit in Hamburg.
22. Social housing should be allocated primarily to Germans.
23. Management positions in state-owned companies should be filled equally by men and women.
24. Research for military purposes should be permitted at universities run by Hamburg.
25. All students with and without disabilities should be taught together.
26. A central memorial site is to be created in Hamburg to address the city’s colonial history .
27. Hamburg’s budget surpluses are to be used primarily to reduce debt.
28. Hamburg police officers on patrol duty are to be equipped with electric shock guns ( “Tasers” ).
29. Local public transport in Hamburg should be free for everyone.
30. All asylum seekers in Hamburg are to be accommodated in collective accommodation until a decision is made on their application.
31. Hamburg should provide all students with digital devices free of charge .
32. Masks will continue to be banned at demonstrations in Hamburg.
33. Rental apartments that have been vacant for a long time should be consistently taken away from their owners and rented out.
34. Hamburg should continue to recruit skilled workers from abroad .
35. Additional drug consumption rooms with medical care are to be set up in Hamburg.
36. Spellings that depict gender identities other than male and female should be banned in schools.
37. Automated facial recognition should be allowed to be used in video surveillance of public places in Hamburg.
38. All container ships in the Port of Hamburg will be required to use electricity from the mainland (“ shore power ”) before 2030.

All parties that are approved for the 2025 state election and that have taken a position on the theses of the Wahl-O-Mat can be selected in the Wahl-O-Mat. All of the 16 approved parties and voter associations in Hamburg are represented in the current Wahl-O-Mat:

• SPD
• Greens
• CDU
• Die Linke
• AfD
• FDP
• The Choice – WFG
• BSW
• Alliance Germany
• volt
• ÖDP
• Free Voters
• The party
• Animal Protection Party
• DAVA-Hamburg
• NPD

The questions for the Wahl-O-Mat are compiled by a youth editorial team in a workshop lasting several days. They are supported by a team of experts from the fields of science, statistics and education.

The editorial team works in several working groups to examine the issues relevant to the election in question and develops 80 to 100 theses that are then sent to the parties for response. They usually have two to three weeks to do this.

The parties' answers are then checked for agreement with the theses - if there are any discrepancies, the parties are asked to revise their positions. The parties always have the final decision on which answer appears in the Wahl-O-Mat.

In the last step of preparation, the editorial team selects 38 theses that will appear in the respective Wahl-O-Mat. According to the bpb, the decisive factors for the selection of the theses are that they address important issues in the election, have been answered controversially, ensure that the parties can be distinguished and cover a broad range of topics.

Each Wahl-O-Mat is tested in advance and put online about two to four weeks before the respective election.