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Death and rape threats have been issued against some Stormont politicians and their children.
Others have been physically attacked in their offices or on the street with some avoiding parts of their own constituency for fear of attack or verbal abuse.
On Wednesday, First Minister Michelle O’Neill called online abuse targeting Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MP Carla Lockhart “disgraceful and unacceptable”.
An Electoral Commission survey on the 2024 UK general election found that many candidates continue to experience unacceptable levels of intimidation and harassment.
A group of leaders from the Centre for Democracy and Peace’s Fellowship Programme have called for action to tackle the abuse.
Backed by the Electoral Commission, they have called for legislative change to strengthen protection for candidates and education initiatives to promote more respectful political discourse.
Some members of the Northern Ireland Assembly said if they had realised the scale of abuse they would face then they would never have stood for election.
BBC News NI understands some are considering leaving elected politics.
Assembly members have spoken to BBC Northern Ireland’s The View detailing their experiences of harassment and abuse.
I have received death threats, including bomb threats to my home, but certainly with the emergence of social media, the threats became quite personal in nature, about your appearance, about my working-class accent, right through to just misogynistic, hateful abuse.
Sometimes when I go in to Belfast city centre, even during the day or when I’m out for a meal in the evening, I have received verbal abuse, normally from men on the street.
So that’s something as a female elected representative that we literally have to put up with although we shouldn’t.
I recently had an incident at my own home where an individual was walking up alongside of my house. The individual told police he was out hunting.
I’m not aware of many people hunting at 01:30 in the morning outside an MLA’s house in the countryside.
Subsequently, my security had to be stepped up.
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