Author

Fiona Mullen, Sapienta Economics

Before I get into my story, this is an open invitation: next week, Thursday, 22nd October 2026, Ledra Palace, 6pm-8pm followed by food and drinks, we hear from the man who ran Ireland’s first big attempt at deliberative democracy, Mr Art O’Leary. The event is organised by the Cyprus Peace and Dialogue Centre (CPDC) with the support of the Embassy of Ireland. Bring your ID. For security reasons pre-registration is required so click here. You can find more details on LinkedIn or Facebook.

As many of you know in early 2024, when the personal envoy, Maria Angela Holguin, had just been appointed for the first time, I started advocating in earnest for citizens’ assemblies to support the leaders in walking that last, very difficult, mile on the Cyprus problem. Since then I have been involved with Dr Meltem Onurkan-Samani, founder of CPDC, on what can loosely be called an iterative approach: learning by doing as we test out more and more ambitious deliberative democracy exercises and adapt them to the special circumstances of Cyprus. Below is the story of how we got here.

May 2024: launched the initial concept

It was around April 2024. I had written my articles. I had even had a short “audience” with Ms Holguin about the ideas. I was looking for a partner whose existing work and experience could complement advocacy for citizens’ assemblies. By May 2024, thanks mainly to a remark by the former Irish Ambassador, Conor Long, I had teamed up with Meltem and CPDC. We brought together advocacy for citizens’ assemblies and CPDC’s existing work on updating the Cyprus peace process through political dialogue, grassroots engagement and deliberative approaches.

CPDC was already undertaking this kind of work in Cyprus and abroad, engaging both political figures and grassroots participants. Its work included in-person dialogue and online engagement using the AI-assisted tool of Remesh. CPDC had also just launched the April 2024 Joint Declaration with Apofasi Irinis saying, “this time must be different”, which was compatible with my attempts to call for a review of the way in which negotiations to solve the Cyprus problem are conducted.

Meltem’s personal motto for CPDC is “we mean business!”. And indeed she does. So when I said I was looking for partners to get some traction on the idea of citizens’ assemblies, Meltem’s immediate response was, “Let’s do it!”

Process design, not substance. Just a few weeks later, thanks to space provided by the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), food and refreshments provided by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), a lot of moral support from the (budgetless) UN Good Offices Mission, and the free time of from friends and supporters, we launched the initial concept, C-Up: “Civic initiative for an updated Cyprus peace process design”.

Being keenly aware of how sensitive everything is surrounding the Cyprus problem, we focused on updating the design of the negotiations - the methodology of how they are conducted - not the substance. Our plan was to try to engage citizens in how to make the negotiations process more effective, not how to settle sensitive questions about, say, security or governance. You can find a paper on that first initiative here.

In November 2024, thanks to a Prof Amanda Perry-Kessaris from the University of Kent and funds from a Socio-Legal Studies Association Impact Grant, we did a very small deliberative experiment with people from the “peace space”. It involved a test of both citizens’ assemblies and interspecies councils. You can find a Bristol University Press article on that here.

In December 2024, with the support of UNDP, CPDC conducted four, monocommunal, “light” assemblies outside Nicosia, two in each community, on the subject of green transition. Here we were also supported by the University Centre for Field Studies (UCFS) of the University of Cyprus. During these small assemblies we began to see how much ordinary citizens really appreciate being asked not only their views (as in a classic focus group) but being asked for their ideas in a setting that encourages deliberating on issues that involve trade-offs. You can find the write-up of that exercise here.

2025 EU C-Up contract

Then in July 2025 CPDC won an EU contract to run a bigger project. Called Updated Cyprus Peace Process Design (“C-Up”) and implemented in cooperation with the Interdisciplinary Centre for Law, Alternative and Innovative Methods (ICLAIM), this project is in full swing. We have already conducted four monocommunal focus groups (two in each community); four monocommunal mini assemblies (two in each community); one of two bicommunal online, ai-assisted assemblies; and we are about to hold one in-person, bicommunal assembly (see below).

As I noted above, each time we do a new pilot assembly, we learn more things about how best to adapt it to the Cyprus context. The more substantive lessons include how to ensure impartial and accessible information; an inclusive selection of participants; balanced participation between the two communities; accessible deliberation; and meaningful follow-up on citizens’ proposals.

There are also plenty of other practical questions. For example, we are learning about what technology can support a deliberative exercise when you are trying to involve citizens with different levels of education, all speaking their own language; how much time you need to find a cross-section of society; and, in the room, what is the optimal time for allowing people to let off steam before they get down to the actual deliberation.

Since we launched this initiative we have also sought to learn from those who have run deliberative initiatives many times and at much bigger scale. This is why we are delighted to be welcoming Mr Art O’Leary, Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission of Ireland, and former Secretary General to the President of Ireland. He will be sharing lessons learned with us next week, including at the public 22nd Thursday 6pm Ledra Palace event. (Reminder pre-register here.)

In the meantime, we shall keep on iterating, keep on sharing lessons and, I hope, keep on receiving technical support from abroad from other countries that are more familiar with the deliberative democracy approach.

Is there are relationship with formal Consultative Assembly?

At this stage you might be asking yourselves, is CPDC’s C-Up initiative the same as the recently constituted Consultative Body for Civil Society Engagement, formed by the two leaders under UN auspices, which I wrote about here, and which a few more details emerged about here?

The short answer is no. C-Up is an independent civil-society pilot, distinct from the official Consultative Body for Civil Society Engagement established by the two leaders under UN auspices. Of course our findings and practical lessons may inform the official mechanism. Meltem also serves in a separate capacity on the Steering Committee of the Consultative Body. The two initiatives are therefore “separate but supportive”.

Finally, if you got this far, there is another event that you might be interested in. We need 30 participants (15 from each community) to help make proposals for an updated peace process design at the pilot bicommunal, in-person assembly taking place at Ledra Palace from 10:00-17:00 on Saturday 24 October. The event will have simultaneous interpretation between Greek and Turkish. Recruitment aims to bring together a balanced range of backgrounds and perspectives within each community. Importantly, we are really keen on including ordinary voters who are not normally involved in peace activities or the Cyprus problem. So if you have a cousin, aunt, uncle, grandparent etc who might be interested, please get in touch in the comments and I can direct you to the right person.

The article is also available on the Sapienta Economics website: Citizens’ assemblies: lessons from Ireland

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