FAQ

It is important for us to facilitate direct exchange between randomly selected individuals, who reflect a portion of the diversity of society, and representatives through lottery-based procedures. However, achieving this on a nationwide scale with all Bundestag representatives simultaneously is quite challenging.

Germany is divided into 299 electoral districts, each home to approximately 250,000 to 300,000 eligible voters. All representatives are also based in an electoral district, making them direct points of contact for local political issues. Thus, electoral districts hold a special significance within Germany’s democratic system: they serve as places of representation and foster the relationship between the public and politicians.

However, this level of governance has not yet become one with which people identify. While representatives spend at least half the year in their electoral districts, few people actually know who their representatives are. We aim to strengthen this relationship to reduce the perceived distance between residents of the electoral districts and politics in the Bundestag. This goal is further supported by taking regional differences and specificities into account at the electoral district level.

Electoral District Days differ significantly from Citizens' Assemblies in that Citizens' Assemblies aim to provide recommendations to a decision-making body on a specific topic. In the case of national Citizens' Assemblies, for example, a representative group of randomly selected individuals from Germany (approximately 160 people) comes together and, with the help of scientific input, excursions, and experts, develops recommendations over an intensive multi-week process that influence government decisions or provide guidance. Citizens' Assemblies seek to enrich government decisions with the perspectives of citizens, thereby improving them.

In contrast, Electoral District Days pursue a different goal. They focus on exchanging views on a nationally relevant topic, allowing representatives to learn about the realities of life in their electoral district while participants gain a better understanding of how parliamentary work and political processes function. In short, it’s about building relationships.

This also relates to the fact that representatives do not have sole decision-making power over the topics discussed during Electoral District Days. However, they serve as advocates for the interests of their electoral district in the Bundestag and are usually well-networked in state and local politics. They are best positioned to know where specific issues can be addressed and act as multipliers for certain concerns.

In Citizens' Assemblies, the development of recommendations typically occurs deliberately without the involvement of politicians, so that the results are not influenced. Politicians are subsequently asked to respond to the recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly and to explain why certain recommendations will or will not be implemented.

Electoral District Days, however, are not about producing recommendations; instead, they aim to create a space that fosters and strengthens mutual understanding. Electoral District Days randomly bring together diverse individuals and representatives to discuss topics, define problems, clarify questions, and collaboratively explore ideas. A particular emphasis is placed on exchanging personal experiences. These stories from various life realities illustrate where there are needs, where misunderstandings exist, and what ideas have already emerged from experience as potential solutions. A group size of 25 to 30 participants has proven effective, maintaining the feeling of a protected and private space for personal exchange with politicians.

Given this focus, Electoral District Days last only one day. Electoral District Councils, whose members consist of voluntary participants from the Electoral District Days, serve as a means to build relationships in the long term and enrich the work of representatives with the perspectives of a diverse group from their electoral district.

However, this does not mean there is no sense of accountability. At the end of an Electoral District Day, representatives are asked what they will take away from the discussions and what opportunities they see for furthering these insights.

For the various topics, there is also scientific input at the Electoral District Days to serve as a common basis for discussion.

In the "Hallo Bundestag" project, both directly elected representatives and those who entered the Bundestag via state lists were invited. During the pilot phases, the Electoral District Days were conducted solely with the directly elected representatives. However, the evaluation shows that trust in politicians, political processes, and parties increases significantly when multiple representatives from different parties are present. Our experience indicates that witnessing a constructive and amicable exchange among representatives across party lines has a substantial impact on participants. This experience presents a very different image than what is often portrayed in the media regarding political interactions.

Looking ahead, we are considering inviting supervisory representatives from the electoral districts to increase the diversity of parties represented at the Electoral District Days.

In the Bundestag election, voters can cast two votes on the ballot: in the left column for the first vote (Erststimme) and in the right column for the second vote (Zweitstimme). With the first vote, a candidate from the voter's own electoral district is elected directly. Germany has 299 electoral districts. The second vote is used to select a party list established in the federal states. The number of second votes determines how many candidates a party can send to the Bundestag in total (see bpb).

However, there is no constitutional difference in the responsibilities and duties of representatives based on whether they were elected directly or via a list. We aim to strengthen the relationship of all representatives with the people living in their electoral district. Therefore, we strive to avoid a separation of roles among representatives.

"Hallo Bundestag" aimed to explore new ways to enhance the connection between local people and the Bundestag along with its representatives. The means to achieve this were the Electoral District Days. However, to ultimately determine under what conditions this could work across Germany, we needed to test it in various electoral districts.

The project sought to evaluate how well the Electoral District Day format functions under different conditions. We wanted to test whether it would work equally well in all six electoral districts with varying constellations of representatives and different topics. Another important aspect was to find out to what extent individuals randomly selected for the Electoral District Day would be willing to continue working together as a group, engage in the Electoral District Council, and whether the representatives would consult this diverse group for short-term feedback.

Additionally, our project pursued the goal of a self-learning process. This means we aimed to gather insights from the outset and implement them directly throughout the project.

In the future, we hope to make this format available in as many electoral districts across Germany as possible. If you are interested in having an Electoral District Day take place in your district, please feel free to contact us at wahlkreistag@esgehtlos.org.

For the project, it was important that the six electoral districts reflect the diversity of the 299 electoral districts in Germany as closely as possible. This required us to choose a combination of districts. In 2021, we had already conducted Electoral District Days in two Berlin electoral districts. The participants were enthusiastic and interested in continuing, so we decided to include these two Berlin districts (one from the former West Berlin and one from the East) in the "Hallo Bundestag" project.

In addition to the Berlin electoral districts, we selected four more districts from the north, east, south, and west of Germany. It is clear that with just six electoral districts, we cannot represent all the criteria and characteristics of the 299 electoral districts in Germany. However, we are confident that if it works in these six, it will likely work in the remaining 293 districts as well.

Criteria for further selection, in addition to the pilot districts, included: new and old federal states; structurally weak and strong regions, as well as those undergoing structural change; party representation and voting ratios; and the gender ratio of representatives (including list representatives).

-> More information about the electoral districts involved in the project

When selecting the electoral districts, we applied a number of criteria to ensure a diverse range of different districts (see previous question). This includes who won the direct mandate in the district and which other parties are represented through the list seats in that district. After making a preliminary selection based on these criteria, we reached out to the representatives. In the final selection, only those electoral districts were considered where all representatives expressed at least a basic interest in participating.

As the project progressed, it became increasingly clear to us that once representatives experienced the exchange, they were usually very convinced by the format and were eager to participate again.

The goal of our Electoral District Days is to provide representatives with a clear understanding of what people in their electoral district think, what concerns them, and what attitudes and opinions they hold on issues relevant to politics. Since we cannot engage all 300,000 residents of an electoral district in conversation with their representatives, we must make a selection. Random selection ensures that all individuals in the electoral district have the same chance of being chosen. Furthermore, the characteristics of the population are better represented in a smaller group through random selection than if we were to ask, for example, "Who would like to participate?" This approach allows us to include many individuals who would not have signed up for such an event on their own.

Initially, we submitted a request for group information to the registration offices of the respective electoral districts to obtain a random selection from them. The Federal Registration Act (§ 46) specifies which data can be requested and allows for group information if public interest is ensured. This means that the interests of the public, rather than those of individuals, are promoted. The scientific service of the Bundestag confirmed to us that Electoral District Days serve the public interest.

One challenge was that data for an electoral district cannot usually be obtained directly from the federal state. In this case, we had to submit a request for each municipality—potentially up to 39 for a single electoral district. Subsequently, we wrote to all selected individuals to inform them that we had received their data for potential random selection. This is necessary for data protection reasons.

Using our Es geht LOS app, which ensures a secure and data-friendly selection process, we then randomly selected participants and contacted them by letter. Those who did not respond received a reminder letter. If they still did not reply, we visited them personally at home to determine whether and how we could facilitate their participation. Common needs include childcare, support in obtaining time off from their employer, or simply feeling that their voice truly matters and can only be contributed by themselves.

This method is called a "proactive random selection process." It ensures that individuals who would not voluntarily respond to an invitation to a participation process are also included.

-> More information about the outreach random selection method