Across 44 questions divided into 12 themes, Smartwielen.lu helps users compare their political views with those of the candidates and political parties participating in the upcoming legislative elections.  Illustration: Maison Moderne

Across 44 questions divided into 12 themes, Smartwielen.lu helps users compare their political views with those of the candidates and political parties participating in the upcoming legislative elections.  Illustration: Maison Moderne

The site helps voters match their political views to those of the candidates and parties--and it’s up and running for the general elections on 8 October.

Should the legal workweek be reduced without cutting wages?

Should wage indexation be limited to one bracket per year?

Should tobacco be taxed more?

In 44 questions divided into 12 themes, Smartwielen.lu seeks to help people decide whom to vote for.

Take the test

206,409 matchings in 2018

Already live for the last three legislative elections (2009, 2013, 2018), as well as for the 2019 European elections in Luxembourg, the tool matches voters with candidates and political parties. In 2018, the site recorded 206,409 matchings.

Users can answer “yes,” “no,” “rather yes” or "rather no.” They can also add a “+” or “-” to indicate whether they think a question is more or less important.

An algorithm then calculates and cross-references all the responses from users and candidates/parties. At the end of the questionnaire, users can choose the constituency in which they want their “match” to be made. It is also possible to see the results integrated into smartmaps, a sort of squared grid where, depending on the answers, the dots corresponding to the parties tend towards the left or the right, i.e. towards liberalism or conservatism.

Smartwielen is a project of the University of Luxembourg and the Zentrum für politesch Bildung (ZpB). It is an adapted version of the smartvote platform, first developed in 2003 by Politools in Switzerland.

The article in Paperjam. It has been translated and edited for Delano.