What do the parties in Saxony-Anhalt say on digital affairs?

The AfD wants to make Saxony-Anhalt a location for data centers and key digital technologies and to promote artificial intelligence. It sees digitalization as an opportunity and criticizes patchy mobile coverage and slow internet.

The AfD wants better internet and better cell phone coverage. It wants to bring large data centers to the state. These are buildings with very many computers. Permits for them should come quickly. The AfD also wants to support artificial intelligence.

The AfD wants to reverse the Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz (Network Enforcement Act, NetzDG), have the EU's Digital Services Act reviewed and undo the 2021 legal changes against right-wing extremism and hate crime. In the platform's view these rules turn private platforms into censorship bodies; courts should decide on violations of the law.

There are laws against hate on the internet. The AfD wants to take these laws back. It says companies delete too much and limit opinions. Only courts should decide about violations. The AfD also wants the EU rules for platforms to be checked.

The BSW wants to create a statewide online portal through which companies can handle all important dealings with public authorities. Saxony-Anhalt is meant to become a front-runner in digitalizing public administration, and permits should be issued faster.

The BSW wants a web portal for companies across the state. Companies can file applications there and write to public offices. They can see how far along their application is. People who do not want to work digitally can still use paper.

The BSW wants fiber connections to every home and a mobile network without gaps across the state. Network operators are to be required to close all coverage gaps.

Every home should get fast internet through fiber. The cell phone network should also work everywhere. Network companies should have to close all dead zones. The BSW sees this as a task for the state.

The BSW wants strict compliance with high data protection standards and, at the same time, a revision of the General Data Protection Regulation. The protection of civil rights is to be better reconciled with practicality and legal certainty.

The BSW wants to protect people's data well. People should decide about their own data. The EU rules on data protection should become simpler. But they should still protect people well.

The BSW wants to better protect public institutions against cyberattacks and reduce dependence on closed software. Data that authorities process about citizens is to be stored within the EU.

The BSW wants to protect offices, schools and hospitals better against online attacks. Authorities should use more open software. Anyone can check open software. Citizens' data should be kept on computers in the EU.

The BSW wants to secure a right to an analog life. Important services and dealings with authorities are to remain possible without digital devices so that no one is excluded from taking part in society.

Not everyone wants or is able to use a smartphone. The BSW wants important things to work without the internet too. This includes banks, buses and trains, parcels and public offices. Digital services should be voluntary.

The BSW wants to modernize public administration, simplify procedures and expand digital services. Digitalization projects are to be coordinated statewide so that incompatible stand-alone solutions do not arise.

The BSW wants to make public administration simpler and faster. Public offices should offer more digital services. The state should set uniform software for all. Staff should get training.

The BSW wants all municipalities in Saxony-Anhalt to use the same standardized application forms. Municipalities would no longer design their own. This is meant to avoid duplicate applications and speed up processing.

Today many towns have their own forms. The BSW wants the same forms across the state. People should be able to fill them out on a computer. Then they can send them straight to the office. This should make things faster.

The CDU wants the state's IT to rely less on dominant hardware and software vendors. It favors regional IT providers, cloud services hosted in Germany and Europe, and open-source software for critical systems.

Government offices often use programs from a few big companies. The CDU wants to change that. Local companies should supply more IT for the state. Data should be stored in Germany or Europe. Important systems should use open-source software. That is software with an open blueprint.

The CDU wants a single contact with the administration to be enough, whether online or in person. Agencies would share data with each other where citizens agree, and digital services are to be accessible. Visiting an office in person remains possible.

The CDU wants fewer forms. One visit to a government office should be enough. This can be online or in person. Offices should pass data to each other. Citizens decide which data that is. Everyone should be able to use the services.

The CDU wants to help start-ups and mid-sized companies invest in digital technology and to simplify funding programs. A new legal framework would allow test zones for innovative pilot projects with little effort, because the platform sees Germany's cautious laws as the biggest obstacle to innovation.

The CDU wants to help young and mid-sized companies. They should find it easier to invest in digital technology. Funding programs should become simpler. New ideas should be tested faster. For this there will be real-world labs. These are test zones with looser rules.

The CDU wants to create a Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) for Saxony-Anhalt, meaning an emergency team for IT security incidents. It would help businesses defend against cyberattacks.

The CDU wants to set up an emergency team for computer security. It is called CERT. The team will help companies in the state. It supports them when they are attacked online.

The CDU wants to close the remaining coverage gaps in fixed-line and mobile networks and push ahead with 5G. The aim is equivalent digital infrastructure in cities and rural areas.

The CDU wants fast internet everywhere in the state. No place should be without a network. The new 5G mobile network should grow. This matters most for schools, business parks and villages. Central places should have free Wi-Fi.

The Greens want to move the state administration to open-source software and expand digital participation. Digital services should exclude no one, and decisions should be explained in plain terms.

The Greens want state offices to use free, open software. No big company owns this kind of software. The state should depend less on US companies. Digital services should work for everyone. Offices should explain their decisions in clear language.

The Greens want nearly all administrative services to be available fully online, accessible and user-friendly by 2030. Municipalities would receive a flat-rate digitalization grant and use a shared citizens' portal.

The Greens want people to do almost everything with public offices online. This should work by 2030. People should only have to give their data once. Municipalities get money for staff and digital projects.

The Left wants to improve data protection and data security for the electronic patient record. The record is to be used only to improve treatment. In addition, open-source applications are to receive public funding and digital health apps are to be scientifically evaluated.

There is a digital record for patients. The Left says the data in it is not safe enough. It wants to protect the data better. The record should only be used for treatment. Experts should check health apps.

The Left wants to make it easier for older people to keep up with the digital world. Socially disadvantaged seniors would get free devices and internet access, along with training and personal support. The platform argues that many older people feel shut out by rapid technological change.

Many older people find computers and the internet hard to use. The Left wants to help them. Poor older people should get devices and internet for free. There should be more classes. Young people and volunteers should help them learn.

The Left sets out a vision for the municipality of the future: digital administration, maintained infrastructure, climate protection and close cooperation between municipalities. Jointly developed digital solutions and open-source software are to become the norm.

The Left wants to make towns and cities more modern. Public offices should offer more online. Roads, schools and bike paths should be repaired. Towns should work together and share software. Local climate protection should grow too.

The Left wants to better protect state and municipal IT against attacks and deploy more staff for this. It points to the 2021 cyberattack on the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld and rejects software such as Palantir on data protection grounds.

The Left wants to protect public offices better against online attacks. The state should have twice as many IT security experts. Every office should have an emergency plan. The party does not want surveillance software like Palantir.

The Left wants to examine and simplify administrative procedures and rules before they are digitized. In the program's view, poor paper-based processes must not simply be carried over into digital ones.

The Left wants to check how public offices work first. Unneeded tasks should be dropped. Technology comes only after that. Artificial intelligence should help with simple tasks. Staff then have more time to advise people.

The Left wants the consequences to be assessed before any use of AI in publicly funded state institutions. The effects on those concerned, liability for wrong decisions and the risk of discrimination are to be clarified in advance.

The Left sees risks in artificial intelligence, or AI. Public offices should only use AI after a check. A public list should show all AI systems in use. People should be able to complain to an office.

The Left wants public administration to use only open-source AI models whose workings can be verified. Decisions in which AI plays a part are to be labeled and explained in plain language.

Government offices use artificial intelligence, or AI, more and more. The Left wants only AI that people can check. The office should say when AI helped decide. It should also explain the decision clearly.

The Left wants to give all public-sector employees an entitlement to digital training. IT specialists are to get their own career tracks with better pay, because in the platform's view the public sector cannot compete on salaries.

People who work for the state should get at least seven days a year for digital courses. Computer experts should earn more money in state jobs. This way the Left wants to attract more young experts. There should also be scholarships. A scholarship is money for studying.

The Left wants to end the state administration's dependence on US tech corporations and switch to open-source and European solutions. The platform sees this dependence as a political and security risk because US authorities could access data under the Cloud Act.

Government offices often use programs from US companies today. The Left sees this as a danger to citizens' data. It wants to use programs from Europe and open programs. Open means anyone can see how the program is built. The state should build its own data storage.

The Left wants the federal government, states and municipalities to develop and coordinate their digital administrative systems together. The platform criticizes that each level currently uses its own software, which it calls costly and a barrier to data exchange.

Every state and every city uses different computer programs today. The programs often do not work together. The Left wants shared rules and shared programs. Saxony-Anhalt should take over finished programs from other states. This should save money.

The Left wants to create a legal right to affordable internet access with capped prices and to support people with little money or little tech knowledge. At the same time it rejects mandatory digital-only services: dealings with authorities are to remain possible offline.

The Left wants everyone to be able to afford internet. People on welfare should pay at most 20 euros a month. Poor families should get tablets or laptops. Towns should have places with devices and help. No one should be forced to deal with offices by computer.

The SPD supports stricter rules on children's and teenagers' access to social media, graded by age. In schools, digital learning tools and media literacy are to be expanded without replacing the relationship between teacher and child.

The SPD wants stricter rules for social media. The rules should depend on a child's age. The platforms should have fixed duties. At school, children should learn more about media.

The SPD wants the state to develop digital administrative services as centrally as possible and provide them to municipalities. This is meant to relieve cities and towns of implementation work. According to the program, the goals are better service, faster procedures and more transparency.

Local offices should become more digital. The state should develop the software itself. Towns can then simply use it. Citizens should have to give their data only once.

The SPD wants administrative procedures to be handled fully digitally and wants the state administration to use open-source software in place of non-European programs. Artificial intelligence should assist but not make decisions in individual cases; the party rejects software such as Palantir.

The SPD wants public office procedures to be fully digital. This covers everything from the application to the decision. The state should use open-source software. With open-source software, anyone can look at the program code. The SPD does not want programs like Palantir.