Waitaki candidate Ethan Reille not put off despite death threats

Following a campaign full of abuse and death threats, Waitaki Labour candidate Ethan Reille has opened up about the invective he faced.

Despite feeling “upset and frustrated”, the 19-year-old has not been put off politics.

He is moving to Wellington this week.

Reille said he wanted to be honest about the abuse he experienced and the normalisation of it towards political candidates.

“I knew I was going to come into this with a lot of disgruntled people but I wasn’t ready for the abhorrent behaviour.”

Waitaki Labour candidate Ethan Reille received death threats and abuse online during the election campaign.

The day after he was confirmed as a candidate, he attended the A&P show in Fairlie.

Someone approached Reille and vented their frustrations with the government, then told him they wished he and former prime minister Dame Jacinda Ardern were dead.

They then spat on his shoe and walked away.

Later that day, a volunteer overheard a conversation where somebody said they wanted the government to stop funding “those savages”, referring to Māori, and how they wanted to shoot Dame Jacinda.

The incidents left him feeling “furious and upset”.

From that point onward the majority of abuse was online.

He attracted death threats as well as abuse in emails and comments.

On one occasion his image was defaced with swastikas.

His mother changed her surname name on Facebook to escape the abuse.

“Words have a lot of meaning, especially online, because it’s there forever.”

The campaign has been full of abuse and death threats. Photo / Tim Cuff

It also affected volunteers, as those who campaigned over the phone were verbally abused.

During August he felt like giving up.

There was a week when he did not leave the house.

It was one thing to have the energy for the campaign but another to have enough energy to be scrutinised and harassed, he said.

Reille thought people were provoked by his age.

“Not only am I young but I’m a progressive young person.”

He wanted to instigate change for young people in New Zealand’s political scene.

Despite the abuse, he would still run for Parliament again “in a heartbeat”.

Moving to Wellington would allow him to be more involved in the policy sector.

He was grateful for the support he received during his campaign.

“[The people] are the reason I did this and the reason I will continue to do this.”

He wanted to remind people that candidates standing for Parliament were still human and needed to know they were safe when they returned home.

Arrow Koehler is a PIJF cadet reporter