Flevoland politicians more often threatened than other Dutch colleagues

Politicians in Flevoland more often faced threats and intimidation in the past year than their colleagues in the rest of the country, Omroep Flevoland reports based on a study by I&O Research.

In Flevoland, 34 percent of administrators and representatives of the people indicated that they experienced threats and intimidation in the past year. In other provinces, it’s 24 percent. About half said they faced aggression, about the same as the rest of the country.

The researchers found that Flevoland politicians are hesitant to discuss threatening or intimidating incidents, often because they don’t consider them serious enough. In 91 percent of Flevoland cases, the politician involved decided not to say anything, compared to 60 percent in the rest of the Netherlands.

36 percent of Flevoland politicians consider aggression part of their job and therefore refrain from reporting incidents to the police. In the rest of the Netherlands, 21 percent of politicians have that attitude.