For those in our international audience who don't know: The Netherlands has a multi-party political system, and governments are typically formed by coalitions of at least two or more parties. 

And when it comes to political parties, the Dutch are spoilt for choice. There are a lot of parties: VVD, PvdA, D66, CDA, SP, CU, GL, PVV, PvdD, SGP, 50+, FvD, DENK... and even a "Pirate Party". 

So perhaps unsurprisingly, Dutch voters are some of the most volatile in Western Europe, often making their minds up about who to vote for at the last minute. 

Enter the "stemwijzer" or "kieswijzer": A quiz-like tool to help voters test their political preferences, and find out which party or parties best match their views. The original StemWijzer by ProDemos has been around since 1989. 

But in typical Dutch fashion, these days there are many other "stemwijzers" to choose from as well: Kieskompas, AD Kieswijzer, Jongerenkieswijzer, Burgeragenda, Kieswijs Ouders, Young Voice... news satire television show Zondag met Lubach even launched its own gamified voting tool this year called Keezer's Quest. 

However, one researcher at the Netherlands Study Centre for Technology Trends (STT), Rudy van Belkom, realised that none of the existing voting tools cover the subjects of technology and digitalisation, despite how defining they are of today's society. 

Hence, he decided to develop the Technologie Kieswijzer: a new voting tool that shows voters where different political parties stand on important technology-related issues, and which parties' views align most closely with their own. 

In a short interview we spoke to Rudy about why and how he created this technology-centric voting tool. 

"Even the biggest voting tool in The Netherlands, the StemWijzer by ProDemos, doesn't include topics around technology, innovation, etc." says Rudy, "I thought, how is this possible? Technology influences our everyday lives in such a big way." 

He points out that some of the impacts of technology are not always positive: "To name one example, sometimes algorithms such as those used in recruitment tools or fraud detection tools are inadvertently exclusive or discriminatory against women and minorities." 

The Technologie Kieswijzer covers a broad range of important political issues related to technology: "It consists of 17 topics including online privacy, fake news, inclusivity, the position of Europe, the power of big tech and how technology can change democracy." 

The tool is also designed to stimulate in-depth, critical thought: "Instead of using a binary approach of agree/disagree, every topic has five different possible answer statements, so these are not simple yes/no questions but rather questions about "how" we should approach important and complex issues." 

What's more, in order to be able to match voters to parties, Rudy had representatives from each political party fill in the Technologie Kieswijzer.

"Many parties don't have concrete plans around technology-related issues in their party agendas, and they don't have experts on these issues on their candidate lists. Having the parties fill in the Technologie Kieswijzer was a way of getting them to lay out their vision on these issues. If they didn't yet have a clear vision, hopefully this exercise has forced them to start formulating one." 

Rudy developed the Technologie Kieswijzer with three goals in mind: 

"Firstly, to inform people like you and me. Of course, voters should use it alongside other voting tools to get a well-rounded picture of where political parties stand on all important topics, but the Technologie Kieswijzer helps complete that picture when it comes to issues around technology and it helps people fine-tune their own voice.

Secondly, to make politicians aware of this topic, to force them to express and explain their views on these issues. This transparency also helps citizens hold these parties accountable for their words and actions in the coming years. 

Thirdly, the Technologie Kieswijzer is part of a bigger research project at the STT about the impact of technology on democracy, which will continue up to a year after the elections. This tool therefore also serves as a survey to find out what people think about the big topics related to technology and digitalisation." 

Dutch-speaking voters: Ready to try the Technologie Kieswijzer for yourself? Take the test!