With voting participation among younger individuals in Germany being lower compared to that of more senior counterparts, the "Deine Wahl" project was launched by the Global Shapers Munich Hub during the federal elections in 2017. However, due to Corona in 2020, the project was paused.

Re-launching the project this year, Colin Benz of the Global Shapers Munich Hub stressed the necessity of providing young voters with the opportunity to pose their own questions to younger candidates. In his words:

"We wanted to bring young candidates and voters together again for the federal election."

Colin shared insights from this year's "Deine Wahl" event held in collaboration with the Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM) in Munich.

HOW DID YOU ENVISAGE THAT THE EVENT WOULD BE HELD THIS YEAR?

As I am the second person to have led this project, I was hoping that we would be able to again have an in-person event that everyone would attend, albeit with a 1.5-meter distance from one another. I was also optimistic that it would include all the major political parties. But due to the Covid-19 regulations in Munich at the time the event was held, we eventually decided that it had to take place digitally.

DID IT STILL ACHIEVE THE EXPECTED IMPACT?

Without direct contact with the participants, it is always difficult to measure what the impact would be. In the past when we were in person, we could interview some of the participants after the event to get their thoughts. But this time, because of the way it was held virtually, this was not possible -we were not able to have the kind of interaction we would typically have in a physical event. However, we had 107 views during the event, which was more than what we had in person. And while we could not reach the individuals who watched, we do know that we reached more people and all of the candidates expressed positive opinions about the event.

WHAT DID YOU PARTICULARLY ENJOY ABOUT THE PROJECT?

I enjoyed working directly with the Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM) team. They were an incredible, flexible, and upbeat group that knows exactly what they're doing, and I hope we will continue to work together.

HAS THERE BEEN ANY PARTICULARLY DIFFICULTLY WITH THE "DEINE WAHL" PROJECT?

The biggest issue was the inclusion of AfD, the "Alternative for Germany", a sizable far-right party in Germany. Previously, there were disagreements in the two times that I had assisted in the past, yet in the end, all parties, including the AfD, still participated. This time, three other parties (and later a fourth) refused to participate if the AfD was involved. If we still kept the AfD in the event, then we would have only had three parties participating. Alternatively, without the AfD, we would have six out of seven major parties, and that is what we decided.

IF YOU HAD TO START AGAIN, WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY?

I would have contacted the media much earlier and more often in the hopes that they would help us with promoting the event to a broader audience. Nevertheless, a well-known website in Munich, "MitvergnügenMünchen" advertised the event on three occasions, something that brought a positive outlook to the event.

ARE THERE ANY OTHER INSIGHTS YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE FROM THE EVENT?

I think all the candidates who took part in the event did an excellent job of avoiding long monologues and sticking to the moderator’s (Victor Ertl) requests. There were no major arguments, unlike in larger debates and they followed the questions asked by the audience. I would recommend everyone to watch the recording of the event here.