Nine out of 10 New Zealand MPs have been victims of harassment, which has sometimes included physical violence, a study shows.
The research paper by the University of Otago and Capital and Coast District Health Board is based on anonymous responses from 102 sitting MPs and finds 87 per cent of them have been targets of harassment, ranging from abusive emails to violence.
"The harassment of politicians in New Zealand is common and concerning," the paper's co-authors Suzanne Every-Palmer, Justin Barry-Walsh and Michele Pathe wrote.
Half of the MPs surveyed had been personally approached by their harassers, and 15 per cent had been physically attacked.
It said some of these incidents were serious and involved weapons such as guns and Molotov cocktails.