The first StemWijzer voting tools came online on Thursday, some five weeks before the March 16 local elections.

The website allows voters in areas which have commissioned the ProDemos institute to produce the tool to find out what parties best suit their beliefs, without reading dozens of manifestos.

In total, the institute is producing the tool for 55 of the 333 local authorities where voting takes place, and for the eight Amsterdam districts.

Amsterdam and The Hague are among the first cities to get the Stemwijzer treatment. Five local authorities – Baarn, Groningen, Wageningen, Maastricht and Eindhoven – have also requested an English version, although not all are yet online.

Hundreds of thousands of foreign residents will be able to take part in the elections because voting is open to all EU nationals and anyone who has lived in the Netherlands for more than five years – as long as they are officially registered with their local authority.

Have your say about the local elections in a new poll

Unlike during the European elections, when many people were unaware they had to register to vote and local councils failed to pass on the information, potential voters will be automatically sent a ballot paper around two weeks ahead of election day.

As with the general election last year, polling stations will also open on March 14 and 15 to allow people who want to avoid large groups sufficient time to vote.