What do the parties in Thuringia say on democracy and the state?

The AfD wants voting to be reserved for people who have reached the age of majority. It calls this its clear position in the debate over voting rights.

The AfD wants only adults to vote. In Germany you are an adult at 18. Younger people should not vote.

The AfD wants to defend freedom of expression and demands that the state actively protect it. In its view, the state government has the Verfassungsschutz (domestic intelligence service) fight unwelcome positions, and this practice should end.

The AfD says everyone should be able to speak freely. The state should protect this right. The Verfassungsschutz is a state intelligence service. The AfD says it should not fight opinions.

The AfD wants to make direct democracy in Thuringia more workable. Fewer signatures should be needed for citizens' initiatives and referendums, and citizens should be able to overturn laws passed by the state parliament through a vote.

The AfD wants citizens to have more say. Fewer signatures should be enough to start a citizens' initiative. In such an initiative, citizens propose a law themselves. Citizens should also be able to stop laws passed by the state parliament.

The AfD wants citizens to be able to dissolve the state parliament early through a referendum. In addition, the people should have a mandatory say in every amendment to the state constitution.

The AfD wants citizens to be able to vote out the state parliament early. This should happen through a public vote. Citizens should also always vote on changes to the constitution.

The AfD wants to tie the size of the state parliament to the population. Instead of the regular 88 members there would be 62, which the party says would relieve taxpayers.

The AfD wants a smaller state parliament. Today it normally has 88 members. In the future it should have 62. The AfD says this saves tax money.

The AfD rejects voting rights for foreigners because, in its view, they contradict popular sovereignty. Participation in direct-democratic votes at every level should likewise be limited to people who hold German citizenship.

The AfD wants foreigners not to be allowed to vote. They should also not take part in referendums. For that, a person should have to be a German citizen.

The AfD opposes letting a person's political convictions decide access to public service, training, meeting venues, gun ownership or public contracts. It sees this as a path to a state that polices opinions, which it considers incompatible with fundamental rights.

The AfD says the state must not treat people by their political opinion. Opinion should not decide who may work for the state. It should not decide who gets rooms or contracts either. Police and authorities should enforce the law equally for everyone.

The AfD wants political parties to have no say in appointing judges and prosecutors. It argues that appointments, for example of constitutional judges, have become politicized and that this weakens trust in the judiciary.

The AfD wants an independent justice system. Parties should no longer help decide who becomes a judge or prosecutor. The AfD says politics has too much influence today. Peaceful members of the opposition should also be allowed to work in the justice system.

The AfD wants to deliberately raise the share of East Germans among judges and prosecutors in Thuringia, saying they are underrepresented. Public bodies and companies should also award advisory mandates to Thuringian law firms more often.

The AfD wants more East Germans as judges and prosecutors in Thuringia. It says too few East Germans work there so far. Courts should know East German life experience. Public offices and companies should also hire lawyers from Thuringia more often.

The AfD wants to abolish the "Landesprogramm für Demokratie, Toleranz und Weltoffenheit" (state program for democracy, tolerance and open-mindedness). It would be replaced by a funding program that supports clubs for their regular work under their bylaws and their contribution to cultural life. The party sees the current program as funding based on political conviction.

Thuringia has a funding program for democracy and tolerance. The AfD wants to end this program. It says the program only funds certain opinions. A new program should fund clubs for their normal work.

The AfD rejects a territorial reform that would create larger counties and municipalities and wants to keep Thuringia's small-scale administrative structure where it has proven itself. Instead, it favors an administrative reform preceded by a review of tasks.

The AfD does not want bigger counties and municipalities. The small local governments should stay. Mayors and county leaders should be close to the people. But the AfD wants to check which tasks the administration has. After that, the administration should be reformed.

The BSW wants to expand direct democracy in Thuringia's constitution. Citizens' initiatives should be allowed to decide on issues with financial consequences. Modeled on Switzerland, citizens should be able to block or correct laws passed by the state parliament.

The BSW wants citizens to decide more things themselves. In a citizens' initiative, people vote on a question. This should also work for questions about money. Citizens should also be able to stop laws from parliament.

The BSW wants new rules, regulations and ordinances in Thuringia to undergo a 100-day review first. During that time, citizens should be able to raise objections and prevent them from taking effect. The party argues that out-of-touch regulations undermine trust in institutions.

New rules should wait 100 days first. During that time, citizens can object. Then a new rule can be stopped. Thuringia should be the first state to do this.

The BSW wants a state parliamentary inquiry committee to review COVID policy. In its view, fundamental rights were restricted to an unprecedented degree and many measures lacked a scientific basis. The goal also includes recommendations for future pandemics.

The BSW wants a close look at the COVID years. The state parliament should set up a committee. The BSW thinks many rules were wrong. Lessons should help in future pandemics.

The BSW wants a fundamental reform of municipal finances based on actual needs, since local governments rely heavily on cyclical taxes. Municipalities are to set their own spending priorities and receive no new tasks without full funding.

Towns and districts should get enough money. The money should match their needs. Towns should decide for themselves what to spend on. New tasks only come with enough money. The state administration office should help the towns.

The BSW wants more cooperation among municipalities, stronger local self-government and a reform of municipal funding. Towns that provide services for neighboring communities are to receive more support.

Towns should work together more. They should decide more things on their own. The money for towns should be organized in a new way. Applying for grants should be easier.

The BSW wants more judges, prosecutors and prison staff, along with digitization, to clear court backlogs. Sentences should be enforced faster, and the program rejects private operators in the prison system.

Courts have too many open cases. The BSW wants more judges and prosecutors. The work should become more digital. Punishment should come faster. Private companies should not run prisons.

The BSW wants publicly funded legal advice centers, especially in rural areas, so that good advice does not depend on income. Knowledge of one's own rights should be taught more, starting in school.

Good legal advice should not depend on money. The BSW wants advice centers paid for by the state. This matters most in rural areas. Children should learn more about their rights at school.

The CDU wants to reduce bureaucracy and shorten administrative and approval procedures. For every new bureaucratic burden, two existing ones are to be removed, and applications are to count as approved where possible if they have not been processed within eight weeks.

The CDU wants less red tape. For every new rule, two old rules should become simpler. Applications should count as approved after eight weeks if the office does not answer. Authorities should help people and companies.

The CDU wants to make the justice system a more attractive employer, with competitive pay, modern working conditions and a recruitment campaign. Prison staff and court bailiffs are also to be better paid and better protected.

The CDU wants more people to work in the justice system. To do this, pay should improve. Prison officers should get more money and tasers. A taser is a device that gives electric shocks. Court bailiffs should study for three years in the future.

The CDU opposes downgrading or decriminalizing offenses such as fare evasion or drug offenses. The legalization of cannabis is to be reversed and drug crime prosecuted consistently.

The CDU wants to ban cannabis again. Riding without a ticket should stay a crime. Drug crime should be prosecuted strictly. Investigations should not be dropped too quickly.

The CDU wants to shorten court proceedings by giving courts more staff, digitizing them and increasing specialization. Fast-track criminal proceedings are to be used more often, especially for young repeat offenders. All existing court locations are to be kept.

Courts should decide faster. They should get more staff and digital technology. Special panels should handle difficult areas of law. All courts in Thuringia should stay. For young offenders, punishment should come quickly.

The CDU rules out forced territorial reforms for municipalities and districts. Mergers would remain voluntary and receive financial support. All current district seats would keep their status.

The CDU does not want to force any town or district to merge. Towns may merge by choice and get money for it. All district seats should stay district seats. Small towns should work together more instead.

The CDU wants to anchor minimum qualification requirements for ministers in the state's ministers act. Top administrative posts are to be filled again on the principle of selecting the best candidate, and the party wants to investigate the previous government's "jobs affair."

Ministers should have finished job training or a university degree. The CDU wants to write this into a law. Top jobs in the administration should go to the best people. Ministers should also live in Thuringia.

The CDU wants to modernize public administration, focus it on core tasks and make digital processes the standard. A citizens' portal is to be set up in both digital and analog form, through which people can submit concerns to the administration and get a timely answer.

The CDU wants to make the administration more modern and simpler. Many things should work digitally. Citizens should be able to send questions to a citizens' portal. They should get a good answer quickly.

The CDU wants to review all tasks of the administration and how they are carried out, and to implement the results through a state organization law. It also calls for a new approach to mistakes, bolder use of discretion and an open data portal.

The CDU wants to review the state administration. It asks which tasks are needed. It asks how to do them better. A new law should put the results into practice. More government data should also be open online.

The CDU wants to retain and recruit staff for the administration through good pay, flexible working conditions and higher trainee pay, among other things. Collective pay deals are to apply to civil servants in full and at the same time.

The CDU wants more people to work in government offices. Trainees should get more money. Civil servants should get the same raises as other public employees. Hiring should take no more than three months.

The Left wants more direct democracy at the state and local level, including on questions that affect the budget. Employees are also to have a greater say in their workplaces. The party presents this as a response to declining trust in politics.

The Left wants citizens to vote directly more often. This should also apply to questions about money. It should apply in the state and in towns. Workers should also have more say in their companies.

The Left wants to prevent the AfD from gaining access to state power and parliamentary majorities in Thuringia. It calls the party and its state leader Höcke fascist and pledges to defend democracy, human rights and freedom of expression.

The Left does not want the AfD to govern in Thuringia. It calls the AfD and Mr. Höcke fascist. The Left wants to protect democracy. It also wants to protect human rights and free speech.

The Left wants to develop the existing law on older people's participation into a full senior co-determination act. Senior advisory councils would become mandatory in municipalities with 5,000 residents or more, instead of 10,000. In addition, the AGATHE program against loneliness in old age would be extended to all of Thuringia.

Older people should have more say in politics. Senior councils exist for this. The Left wants to make them required in towns with 5,000 people or more. A program against loneliness in old age should run everywhere in Thuringia.

The Left wants to write the UN children's rights into the Thuringian constitution and supports adding them to the federal Basic Law. Children and young people are to have a binding say, including through mandatory youth parliaments in the counties. In the party's view, early participation makes democracy more resilient.

The Left wants to write children's rights into Thuringia's constitution. Children and young people should have more say. Every county should have a children's and youth parliament. There should also be a children's commissioner.

The Left wants a law to strengthen volunteering that cuts red tape and lets volunteers get around regardless of income. The state volunteering foundation is to receive more money, and volunteer agencies are to be set up statewide. The party sees volunteering as what holds society together.

Many people help for free in clubs or the fire brigade. The Left wants to make a law for these people. There should be less paperwork. Volunteers should be able to get around even with little money.

The Left wants to push at the federal level for everyone living in Germany to be allowed to vote and stand for election. According to the platform, this would promote political participation by all groups in the population and strengthen democracy.

Today, mostly only Germans may vote. The Left wants to change that. Everyone who lives in Germany should be allowed to vote. They should also be able to run for office. The Left says this makes democracy stronger.

The Left wants to add a Thuringian lobby register to the existing record of who influences legislation. In addition, state parliament committees are to meet in public as a rule, and anti-corruption work is to be modernized.

The Left wants a lobby register for Thuringia. It shows who tries to influence politics. Committees in the state parliament should meet in public. The party also wants to do more against corruption.

The Left wants to expand direct democracy and drop the ban on popular initiatives that affect the budget. It also wants a residents' petition at state level that people without a German passport can file as well.

The Left wants more direct democracy. Citizens should also vote on topics that cost money. That is not allowed today. All residents should be able to send requests to the state parliament, even without a German passport.

The Left wants to modernize Thuringia's constitution and set up a constitutional committee again in the new parliament. Among other things, stronger children's rights and clauses against fascism, racism and antisemitism are to be added.

The Left wants to change Thuringia's constitution. Children should get more rights in it. The constitution should clearly oppose fascism, racism and hatred of Jews. A committee in the state parliament should work on this.

The Left wants to broaden voting rights: anyone who has lived in Thuringia for more than five years should be able to vote in local elections, whatever their passport. The party also pursues a voting age of 14 at local and state level.

The Left wants more people to be allowed to vote. People who have lived in Thuringia for over five years should vote in local elections. Their passport should not matter. Young people aged 14 and up should also be allowed to vote.

The Left stands for an institutional separation of church and state. It wants to end the state payments to the churches and rejects limited rights for employees of church-run institutions.

The Left wants a clear split between state and church. The state still pays the churches money regularly. These payments should end. Church employees should have the same rights as other workers.

With many retirements ahead, the Left wants to hire new judges and prosecutors step by step and digitize the justice system. It also wants to strengthen independence and co-determination within the judiciary.

Many judges and prosecutors will retire soon. So the Left wants to hire new young people. Courts should work with computers instead of paper. Judges should have more say in their own affairs.

The Left wants to push in the Bundesrat for fee rules that are socially fair for people seeking justice and viable for lawyers. Legal aid and out-of-court dispute resolution are to be strengthened.

The Left wants everyone to be able to get justice. People with little money should get more help with court costs. Disputes should be settled without a court more often. The state should give money for this.

The Left wants a state law to secure funding for democracy initiatives over several years. The state program for democracy, tolerance and openness is to be developed further, and memorial sites are to be secured.

The Left wants a law to promote democracy. Democracy projects should get money for several years. Then they do not have to worry about funding every year. Memorial sites should also get secure funding.

The SPD wants to continue the debate on constitutional reform so that young people can vote in state elections from age 16 and children's rights are written into the state constitution. Young people are also to have more of a say in municipalities and in state politics.

Young people should be able to vote for the state parliament from age 16. Children's rights should be in Thuringia's constitution. Young people should also have more say in their town. A youth parliament should advise politicians.

The SPD wants to introduce a privatization brake. Public companies providing essential services could not be sold if a majority of citizens rejects the sale in a referendum. The aim is to put long-term interests ahead of one-time sale proceeds.

The SPD wants a brake on privatization. Privatization means the state sells a company to private owners. Citizens should be able to vote on it. If most people say no, there is no sale. This applies to companies that provide basic services for everyone.

The SPD wants to pass a Thuringian democracy promotion act that secures lasting funding for projects in democracy work and civic education. Civil society groups are to face less red tape and be regularly included in exchanges with the government and state parliament.

The SPD wants a law to promote democracy. Projects for democracy should get money safely and for a long time. Associations and initiatives should have less paperwork. They should talk with the government and parliament regularly. Schools should offer more teaching about democracy.

The SPD wants young people to be allowed to vote in state elections from age 16. The minimum age to run for mayor or district administrator is also to be lowered so that young people take part in parliamentary democracy early.

The SPD wants to lower the voting age. Young people should vote for the state parliament from age 16. Mayors and district heads should also be allowed to be younger. This lets young people have a say earlier.

The SPD wants to disarm right-wing extremists, deny them state funding and keep the domestic intelligence agency adequately equipped. To counter hate online, police and prosecutors are to get more staff so that criminal cases conclude quickly.

The SPD wants to act against right-wing extremists. They should not be allowed to have weapons. They should get no funding from the state. The domestic intelligence agency should have enough staff and means. Police and prosecutors should get more people to fight hate online.

The SPD wants to add staff at courts, prosecutors' offices and prisons rather than only replace those who leave. Judges and prosecutors are to be staffed ten percent above the staffing formula, and the service is to become more attractive.

The SPD wants more staff for courts and prosecutors. There should be 10 percent more judges and prosecutors than planned so far. Work in the justice system should be more attractive. For this there should be modern working hours. There should also be more training.

The SPD wants to secure justice system locations across the state and modernize them where needed. Technology for video hearings and video conferences is to be installed everywhere, and justice tasks are not to go to private providers.

The SPD wants to keep all justice locations. Courts should stay close to people. There should be technology for video hearings everywhere. Private companies should not take over tasks of the justice system.

The SPD continues to treat mergers of municipalities as a priority in order to strengthen administrations and pool financial resources. Merged municipalities and cooperation between local governments are to receive support.

Municipalities should be able to merge. Then the administration is stronger and has more money for big projects. The SPD wants to support these municipalities. Working together between municipalities should also get easier.

The SPD wants to strengthen children's and youth councils in municipalities and make them the norm at county level as well. Advisory councils of and for people with disabilities are likewise to be set up everywhere.

Children and young people should have a say in their town. The SPD wants to support councils for this, also in the counties. A council is a group that advises and helps decide. People with disabilities should also get such groups everywhere.

The SPD wants to protect volunteering in the state constitution and give municipalities a dedicated volunteering budget. A leave law is to release employees from work for volunteer activities. The platform argues that volunteering is under pressure, especially in rural areas.

Many people in Thuringia volunteer. The SPD wants to support them more. Volunteering should be written into the state constitution. Towns should get money for volunteers. A new law should give people time off work to volunteer.