Parties’ Handling and Prevention of Political Harassment and Violence

In light of well-documented cases of harassment and violence in politics, a pertinent question to address is whether – and how – parties organize to ensure that such behaviors do not inhibit their members’ participation, their candidates’ campaigning or their elected representatives’ quality of representation. In response to the rising attention to violence in politics in general, and the #MeToo movement in particular, both organizations, companies and other institutions initiated discussions, implemented policies and established mechanisms specifically to prevent and address harassment, intimidation and violence. Why and how have parties adopted such regulations, and if so, what do these regulations look like? This paper analyze the adoption and content of the formal regulations of a selection of European parties spanning the ideological spectrum from left to right, varying in size, age and number of intra-party #MeToo cases. Parties have to various extents adopted regulations for preventing and addressing harassment, intimidation and violence among elected representatives, party staff and party leadership. Not all parties have adopted regulations, and those that have been adopted are not uniform. Rather, these regulations vary in many ways, including the type of harassment, intimidation and violence that they cover, who they protect, and how they are applied, as well as the form and degree of institutionalization. Finally, these adoptions are discussed against ODIHR’s toolkit to address violence against women in politics.