Women face violence from many different actors, whether from opposition political parties or members and leaders of their own parties, from election officials, candidates or elected representatives, and even from their own family and community members.

Observations should collect data on the common perpetrators of violence against women in elections. Importantly, perpetrators should not be assumed to be always men — women also have a role in perpetuating gender norms and perpetrating violence. Our data shows, however, that men are still the overwhelming majority of perpetrators, except for cases where observers indicated that both men and women were involved, or where no gender was noted.