Geneva: Citizens’ assemblies by popular initiative

In Geneva, sortition could become a permanent feature of direct democracy. On 26 October 2026, the organisations Déclic’ Démocratique and Parlement des Jeunes Genevois submitted a popular initiative seeking to enshrine thematic citizens’ assemblies in the cantonal constitution. Within four months, the organisers collected 6,957 signatures. For the initiative to qualify, 5,696 valid signatures are required.

“This is a strong sign of public interest in developing citizen participation and strengthening our democratic instruments,” the organisers declared when submitting the initiative. The signatures must now be officially verified.

Fifty randomly selected citizens to deliberate

The proposal would allow either a majority of the cantonal parliament or two per cent of eligible voters to request the convening of a Citizens’ Assembly. The assembly would address an issue of general interest to the canton.

Each mini public would consist of 50 randomly selected citizens. Selection criteria would include gender, age and place of residence to ensure that its composition reflects the diversity of the population as closely as possible.

Following its deliberations, the Citizens' Assembly could propose legislative or constitutional amendments. The cantonal parliament would have to consider these in the same way as popular initiatives. It could reject the proposals or develop a counterproposal. Where required by the relevant procedure, the matter would subsequently be put to a popular vote. The assemblies themselves would have no legislative powers.

“It is important not to be afraid of innovation”

Two politically independent youth organisations are behind the initiative. Mathieu Beer, president of the Geneva Youth Parliament, believes democracy is under pressure. “We are experiencing a kind of general political apathy,” he told the television broadcaster Léman Bleu. Abstention is increasing, while distrust of public authorities is growing.

For Beer, one of the strengths of randomly selected citizens’ assemblies is their ability to bring together people from different social backgrounds to find compromises. “Geneva has no shortage of pressing issues that keep coming up,” he said. The organisers cite transport, climate protection and housing as examples.

The idea of introducing new democratic rights is by no means a break with Swiss tradition. Beer points out that the introduction of the optional referendum at federal level in 1874 initially met with resistance. “It is important not to be afraid of innovation,” he emphasised.

Giving young people a stronger voice

Caroline Geisinger, president of the newly established association Déclic’ Démocratique, points to the low representation of young people in the cantonal parliament. This does not mean, however, that they lack political interest.

“Young people take part in demonstrations and publish political content on social media,” Geisinger explained. Political participation now takes different forms and is not limited to elections and referendums.

The organisers emphasise that the new citizens’ assemblies are not intended to compete with parliament. “We do not want to replace the Grand Council. It has nothing to worry about,” Beer explained in essence. Rather, the aim is to complement existing democratic institutions with an additional opportunity for participation.

Parliament blocked an earlier citizens’ assembly

The popular initiative has a history. On 12 March 2026, a state-organised Citizens’ Assembly on the future of democracy was due to begin in Geneva. The process had been prepared by cantonal authorities in cooperation with the University of Geneva.

A total of 100 citizens were expected to participate. Of these, 50 randomly selected people would form the main deliberative group, while another 50 would participate in five complementary groups. A digital public consultation was also planned. More than 900 people had already applied to take part.

However, in February, the cantonal parliament stopped the project. On 14 February 2026, it adopted a resolution calling for its cancellation by 53 votes to 35. The canton subsequently announced that the process would be discontinued.

Dispute over democratic legitimacy

Criticism came primarily from centre-right and right-wing parties. They raised concerns about the costs, legal basis and democratic legitimacy of the randomly selected body. The liberal party PLR argued that the assembly lacked electoral legitimacy and that legislative authority should remain exclusively with parliament.

Yet the planned Citizens’ Assembly would not have been able to make binding decisions. Its role was limited to developing proposals for improving democracy, to which the cantonal authorities would have been expected to respond.

Political scientist Matteo Gianni of the University of Geneva rejected the suggestion that the assembly might assume parliamentary powers. “There was absolutely no intention to appropriate legislative power,” he explained to the university.

New ideas from outside parliament

Victor Sanchez-Mazas, a researcher involved in the project at the University of Geneva, also saw a more fundamental problem behind the cancellation. In his view, some members of parliament were primarily concerned about a process that could generate political proposals from outside the legislature.

“A set of jointly developed proposals, even if imperfect, is always better than a few isolated proposals,” Sanchez-Mazas argued. For him, the strength of such processes lies in bringing together different perspectives rather than addressing political problems exclusively within existing institutions.

The conflict thus reveals a fundamental tension: while supporters see citizens’ assemblies as a complement to representative democracy, critics fear competition with elected institutions.

From cancellation to popular initiative

The new popular initiative directly addresses this conflict. Its organisers want to ensure that convening citizens’ assemblies no longer depends solely on the political will of the government or parliament.

Allowing two per cent of eligible voters to request a mini public would create an additional democratic right. At the same time, parliament would remain involved in considering its proposals.

The Geneva proposal therefore goes beyond purely advisory citizen participation. Randomly selected citizens could initiate legislative and constitutional amendments. Whether these are actually adopted would, however, remain a decision for the competent democratic institutions or the electorate.

The people will have the final say

With the submission of the signatures, the first hurdle has been cleared. Following verification and the subsequent political process, Geneva’s voters could decide whether to enshrine citizens’ assemblies as a new democratic instrument in their constitution.

The initiative combines three elements: the random selection of a diverse group, collective deliberation on contentious political issues and the existing instruments of direct democracy.

Whether Geneva will take this path remains uncertain. But the organisers have already achieved something significant: following the cancellation of the first citizens’ assembly, the canton is now debating whether to establish such bodies permanently.

Note: The image accompanying this article was created using AI.