Rhineland-Palatinate: Four parties want mini-publics
On 22 March 2026, twelve parties contested the state elections in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Eleven of them had formulated election manifestos. Four parties promised to promote citizens' assemblies.
The SPD, for example, wants to use mini-publics nto ‘create a space in which innovative and practical proposals for the further development of a diverse democratic culture can emerge.’
‘Advisory support groups’
The Greens "want to create advisory support groups with randomly selected citizens for complex reform processes. Such formats make political decisions more transparent and strengthen trust.’
The Volt party attaches importance to scientifically based support for mini-publics: ‘Scientifically supported citizens' forums based on the Irish model can help to strengthen democracy in Rhineland-Palatinate. When it comes to important decisions, such as large-scale projects, climate change measures, health or education policy, citizens and experts should be heard in a structured process, the results of which can then be incorporated into legislation and implementation in Rhineland-Palatinate.’
Counteracting political disenchantment
The Bündnis für Soziale Gerechtigkeit und Wirtschaftliche Vernunft (Alliance for Social Justice and Economic Reason - BSW) considers ‘the establishment of citizens' assemblies to be a way of counteracting political disenchantment’. It is important that the work of the mini-publics is not used as a fig leaf for the state government and that there are clear and transparent rules of procedure from the outset to ensure that all opinions can be heard.
‘The binding nature of the proposals coming from citizens' assemblies should be guaranteed and described unambiguously,’ demands the BSW. The alliance proposes ‘that the composition and establishment of the rules of procedure for citizens' assemblies should already take place in a participatory process’.
2021 coalition agreement not implemented
Citizens' assemblies were already included in the coalition agreement of the SPD, FDP and Greens in 2021. The three parties had agreed to trial mini-publics in planning and change processes. However, this agreement was not implemented.
Apart from the city states of Bremen and Hamburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, together with Saarland, is one of the lowest-ranked states in Germany in terms of citizens' assemblies. In both states, there have only been three participatory processes involving randomly selected residents.
Announcement without consequences
After randomly selected planning cells on the local government and administrative reform in Rhineland-Palatinate, the then Minister President Kurt Beck (SPD) announced big plans in 2010: ‘We want to bring the successful model of Rhineland-Palatinate to the big stage and show what is feasible and possible in order to involve citizens as directly as possible in political processes.’ Since then, however, there have been no further mini-publics at the state level.