Third edition of Technology Voting Guide ready for use
“Digitization is also becoming a polarizing political issue,” says initiator Rudy van Belkom
Published on October 11, 2025
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The Foundation for the Future of Technology (STT) has made a Technology Voting Guide available for the third time. This voting guide is a special voting aid focused on digital issues. What do political parties think about AI in education? The power of Big Tech? Or the use of digital surveillance tools at demonstrations? Voters can use this Technology Voting Guide to determine their own positions and compare them with those of political parties. “Instead of binary statements, you are presented with five solutions per topic,” says initiator and STT director Rudy van Belkom. “The question is not whether we should protect our online privacy, but how we should do so. This nuance is often missing from the debate on technology.”
Van Belkom found it unacceptable that, “after a series of large-scale data leaks, disinformation campaigns, and algorithmic discrimination,” this year's official StemWijzer (Voting Guide) still contains only one statement about digital issues. “As in previous elections, the issue is low on the political agenda and members of parliament with expertise in digital affairs are placed low on the electoral lists. Nevertheless, a clear shift is visible: digitization is also becoming a polarizing political issue.”
The far-reaching influence of digital technologies on society has been in the news a lot recently. Think of the large-scale data leaks at the Dutch police and the population screening program. The flood of fake news reports from Russian networks. And the outrage over the discriminatory algorithm used by DUO to combat student fraud. Despite these distressing developments, political attention remains limited.
Sharp differences
Although the important digital themes in this election guide are virtually unchanged (the previous elections were barely two years ago), the results are indeed different. Many parties have revised their positions, revealing a clear shift. “Digitization is also becoming a polarizing political issue,” says Van Belkom: “In 2021 and 2023, the responses of many parties were still fairly random, without a consistent vision. This year, a relatively large number of parties have clearly sharpened their positions.” In particular, the friction between government control and market forces is becoming increasingly visible, and the differences between a national and a European approach are also becoming more pronounced.
What is also striking is that the classic division between conservative and progressive parties does not entirely apply in the digital domain. Some parties that you would traditionally call conservative actually have a fairly progressive attitude towards technology. According to them, we should experiment as much as possible with new technologies such as AI, while the established progressive parties are putting the brakes on and warning about the vulnerabilities.
“So there really is something to choose from this year,” concludes Van Belkom. “STT recommends using this election guide as an additional voting tool. Technology affects us all, even if you think it has nothing to do with you.”
Technology Voting Guide: https://technologiekieswijzer.nl/
Analysis of the results in 2021: https://stt.nl/nl/toekomstverkenningen/toekomst-van-de-democratie/data-analyse-technologie-kieswijzer