“Giving the silent majority a voice”
In Thuringia, a state-wide Citizens’ Assembly is addressing the topic of “Peace and Diplomacy”. Four regional kick-off meetings will take place from 21 to 24 April 2026. The 200 participants will then decide for themselves which topics they wish to explore in greater depth and which experts they would like to hear from.
Two in-depth workshops per region are also planned for the summer of 2026 and spring 2027. In the summer of 2027, the assembly will conclude with a state-wide citizens’ conference involving all members of the Citizens’ Assembly.
In the run-up to the Citizens' Assembly, an initial working meeting of representatives from the counties, cities, and municipalities took place on 26 February 2026. The focus of this meeting was the development of a thematic map to serve as a guide for future mini-public members. Together, they collected topics that are currently of concern to people in the Free State. These range from social cohesion to peace and diplomacy to issues relating to personal circumstances.
Objectifying debates
‘Citizens' assemblies help to objectify debates, strengthen trust in political decisions and promote cohesion in Thuringia,’ said Minister President Mario Voigt (CDU). ‘The focus is on issues of peace and diplomacy, but other topics that concern people can also be discussed,’ said the head of government. His ‘blackberry alliance’ of the CDU, BSW and SPD had agreed on the formation of citizens' assemblies in its coalition agreement.
According to the Thuringian State Chancellery, the aim is ‘to give a voice to the otherwise rather “silent majority” and to enable constructive dialogue on this topic.’ Participants would be invited to work together to develop recommendations for politics and for coexistence in municipalities, districts and regions. ‘The focus is on strengthening peace and diplomacy at all levels of our society.’
10,000 invitations
For the composition of the mini-public, 36 towns and municipalities of varying sizes from central, northern, eastern and south-western Thuringia were selected at random. In the next step, around 10,000 people were randomly selected from these municipalities and contacted. Those who received the letter had until 5 March 2026 to register online, by telephone or by post. 600 interested individuals had applied to take part. In March, the final selection of participants was made from these applications.
The random selection of participants is being organised on behalf of the Thuringian State Chancellery. In December 2025, a contract was awarded for the implementation, scientific support and selection of participants. The scientific support serves to record experiences so that they can also be used in the future.
Diverse composition
Data from the Thuringian State Office for Statistics were used to select the members, who must be at least 16 years old. Place of residence, gender, age group, educational level and migration background were taken into account to ensure a diverse composition of the assembly.
The Citizens' Assembly will be scientifically supported by a representative online survey of around 1,000 respondents. The INSA-CONSULERE Institute will examine which topics people in Thuringia associate with peace, diplomacy, and citizen participation, and how the Citizens' Assembly is perceived by the population.
Online consultation
As part of the preparatory work, around 40 mayors and district administrators initially submitted proposals. In addition, around 40 experts from the fields of peace and conflict research, the churches, business, education, the police and civil society were consulted.
As part of an online consultation, members of the public can submit their suggestions, questions and views on the topic of ‘peace and diplomacy’ until 8 June 2026.