Stemchecker Wijchen 2026: from municipal data to insightful digital democracy

Municipal elections 2026 in The Netherlands bring campaigns, programs and political promises. But anyone who wants to know how parties have actually voted in the municipal council usually has to search through council information systems themselves.

Municipal data is public. Motions, amendments and voting results are available. Yet this information remains difficult to access and hardly comparable for many residents.

Around the municipal elections of 18 March 2026 in Wijchen, a town with 41,000 inhabitants in the east of the Netherlands, a practical question arose:
how do you make the voting behaviour of local political parties transparent without political interpretation or campaign elements?

The answer became the Stemchecker Wijchen 2026 (the Dutch word "stem" means vote), a web application that translates factual council voting data into an accessible, interactive tool.

View the application:
View the Stemchecker Wijchen

From municipal council voting behaviour to understandable information

The Stemchecker Wijchen 2026 is based on 22 statements directly derived from concrete motions and votes within the municipal council of Wijchen.

Each statement can be traced back to:

• a submitted motion
• a formal council proposal
• the recorded voting behaviour of parties

This creates a comparison based on demonstrable actions instead of election rhetoric.

For residents this means clarity about how parties actually vote on topics such as housing development, mobility, sustainability and local facilities.

For municipalities this means that open data is actively used as public information, not only as an archive.

How does this web application work for municipalities?

The user goes through 22 statements and indicates a preference for each topic (agree, disagree or neutral). The application compares these answers with historical voting behaviour and calculates a transparent match score.

Important design principles:

• verifiable and explainable calculation logic
• no political weighting or voting advice
• lightweight, scalable technical architecture
• fast loading times

digital accessibility according to applicable standards

The methodology is transferable.
The content remains local custom work.

This makes this web application suitable for other municipalities that want to make their council data more accessible, for example around elections or participation processes.

Why this is relevant for clerks, communication advisers and information managers

Many municipalities invest in open data, council information systems, digital participation and transparent decision-making. However, the translation into understandable public information often remains limited.

A stemchecker or similar web application offers a concrete way to:

• present municipal council voting behaviour in a neutral way
• inform residents better during municipal elections
• increase involvement in local democracy
• use existing data in a functional way

For information managers and digital transformation policy advisers, this case shows how structured council data can be converted into a scalable and user-friendly application, without complex infrastructure or major system changes.

Digital democracy requires understandable interfaces

Digital democracy is more than publishing PDF documents or offering a council information system. It is about clarity.

Residents want to know:

• how parties actually vote
• which choices have been made
• what this means for their living environment

An interactive web application translates administrative decision-making into clear insights. The Stemchecker Wijchen 2026 shows how complex decision-making can be presented through clear user flows, transparent substantiation and neutral presentation.

Without political steering.
Without campaign elements.

Open municipal data: from obligation to added value

Almost every municipality has voting results, meeting data and public decisions. The technical data is available. The challenge lies in unlocking it.

This case shows that:

• existing council data is reusable
• implementation remains manageable
• customization is possible within existing digital environments
• transparency can be strengthened without extra administrative burden

The technology is scalable.
The methodology is transferable.
The application is future-proof.

Experience and reliability

The Stemchecker Wijchen 2026 was developed by db8, specialist in websites and web applications for public organisations since 2005.

During development, the focus was on:

• reliable source processing
• verifiable traceability of voting data
• digital accessibility
• scalable architecture
• independent information provision

The application contains no political recommendations and processes no unnecessary personal data. The focus is entirely on insight into factual voting behaviour of the municipal council.

This aligns with principles of transparency, reliability and administrative diligence.

What this case means for other municipalities

For municipalities thinking about digital transparency, election information or data-driven communication, this stemchecker offers a concrete example of what is possible with existing resources.

The underlying methodology can also be applied to:

• multi-year analyses of voting behaviour
• thematic policy dashboards
• insight into coalition and opposition patterns
• monitoring of decision-making

This case shows how municipal data can be transformed into accessible digital applications that residents actually use.

Transparency is available.
The added value arises when that information is presented in an understandable and accessible way.

The Stemchecker Wijchen 2026 can be viewed live via:
View the Stemchecker Wijchen

For municipalities and public organisations preparing for municipal elections, participation processes or digital transparency projects, this case shows how existing council data can be translated into a practical and scalable web application.

Would you like to explore what this could mean for your municipality?
Contact db8 Website Support