As the October winds usher in a season of mystery and fright, our hallowed halls at PartyParty resonate with tales that would make even a seasoned political professional’s skin crawl. Beyond the surface of strategy meetings and policy discussions, lie stories that remain confined to hushed whispers. But here, in our unique ecosystem crafted especially for political aficionados, we thrive on unearthing these stories, diving deep into the crypts of political experiences.
This Halloween, as part of our commitment to fostering a space where professionals can learn, grow, share, and engage, we’ve asked our editors to part the veils and offer you a glimpse into the spookiest corners of their political journeys. Let’s navigate the shadowy realm that haunts the word of politics.
The midnight amendment
Background: In 2009, PartyParty’s Editor-in-chief Miles R. Maftean was a Communications Assistant for a senior US Senator. One fateful stormy night the following occurred.
Back when I was a bright-eyed 20-year-old junior political professional, I had a stint working for a senior US Senator.
A critical vote was underway in the Senate, and I was the office runner sent to deliver an important message from the Chief of Staff to the Senator.
Sprinting down the Russell Office halls to the underground Congress metro, I dash into the small cart as the doors close, nudging forward two bodies.
I look up—sweaty, out of breath—and see two pairs of eyes on each side: one from Senator John Kerry and the other Senator John McCain. To surprised looks from both sides of the political spectrum, I stumble through an apology, then turn away, cursing under my breath.
After the longest two-minute ride in my existence, I sprint out of the cart, away from my embarrassment and towards the Senate floor. The security guard gives me a bored look, asks who I’ll be sitting with, and then I realise the worst.
In the scramble, I have dropped the (very important) message for the Senator. I sprint back to the metro cart minutes later to find it empty. The important critical message is nowhere to be found—unless it found a home on Senator Kerry’s desk? The mystery remains unsolved.
Phantom polls and vanishing votes
Background: In November 2020, PartyParty’s Editor Jasmina Mršo was running for re-election as a municipal councillor in old town Sarajevo, on the list of the social-liberal party ‘Nasa Stranka.’ The party feared losing seats in this conservative stronghold.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, whispers of stolen votes and vanishing ballot boxes pervade every election. Opposition parties often find themselves in a relentless pursuit of these phantom votes, while authorities seem powerless in the face of irregularities.
Election night was unfolding and despair loomed as unfavourable results rolled in. Suddenly, commotion erupted outside our campaign headquarters. There was a heated confrontation between People and Justice (NiP) party members and a group in a car bizarrely displaying open ballot boxes.
To our astonishment, these individuals were part of a COVID team, tasked with enabling quarantined citizens to vote. They were caught red-handed, tampering with the ballot boxes. Refusing to let them go, we called the police.
In the end, we formed a new majority in the council. However, my party lost a seat, and it happened to be mine. I don’t know if any of our votes were stolen, but that day marked the chilling moment when I started to question my future in local politics.
The skeletons in your closet
In 2020, PartyParty’s Editor Luis C Cano was organising political forums across Hungary to showcase the work of two Momentum MEPs who were elected to the European Parliament in 2019.
The year 2019 marked my first political victory with Momentum in Hungary when we got two capable women elected to the European parliament. I started working with them immediately, and from day one, we had a clear mission: to show that FIDESZ (the ruling party) was full of political hypocrites that did one thing in Brussels and another at home. We worked successfully to vote down the election of László Trócsányi as commissioner for Hungary, for example.
When the COVID pandemic struck in 2020, we felt our work was suddenly at a halt. Little could happen as meetings were cancelled. But I awoke to a call on November 27 at 3 a.m. from a party colleague to tell me: “Szajer got arrested in a gay orgy in Brussels, this is huge.”
Jószef Szájer was then a FIDESZ MEP and a founding member of the Hungarian governing party. This was a big scandal—we knew we wanted to expose FIDESZ’s hypocritical behaviour in terms of corruption, but this was gold by exposing their hypocrisy about traditional family values. Szájer was a strong advocate for traditional values and was himself married to the head of the Hungarian constitutional court.
Szájer was expelled from FIDESZ and left his position at the European parliament. Along with the opposition, we managed to build an extensive campaign to expose other hypocrisies of the government involving other sexual scandals and criminal behaviours. Words and commitments to something your politicians do not stand for can come and haunt you. It is pretty scary to be a conservative in waiting for those skeletons to come out of the closet.
A spooky night and rude awakening
In 2016, PartyParty’s senior editorial advisor, Paul Taylor, was European Affairs Editor of Reuters, the international news agency, in Brussels.
The alarm was set for 5 a.m. I would get up, finish my analysis of the UK’s referendum on whether to leave the EU, drive to the airport and catch a 10 a.m. flight to Bordeaux to attend my son’s wedding party. The pre-write was on my computer, waiting for the vote figures to be slotted in.
I went to sleep around midnight after the first exit polls showed a clear, if narrow, victory for Remain.
That was a relief but not a huge story. My draft analysis explained how the EU had dodged a bullet but the close vote had not settled the issue for long, and why the UK would remain an awkward, semi-detached member of the EU.
I slept uneasily, anxious not about the result but about missing the plane – a recurring nightmare for travelling reporters. I awoke at 5 and flipped on the TV to discover the partial count showed my homeland was heading for the exit. I fell out of bed, swearing profusely. This turned everything on its head – the future of the UK, the future of the EU, and my own life as a UK citizen living permanently (or so I thought) in the EU, and my analysis.
Back to the drawing board with three hours to explain what this meant for the future of Europe. Would the EU fall apart? Would other countries be tempted to leave? Would the EU become more inward-looking, less Atlanticist, more protectionist, more resistant to further enlargement without British influence? And above all, would I miss my flight, and would my wife and son ever speak to me again if I did?
I (just) made the flight. I filed the analysis. And my wife and son are still speaking to me.
That night I learned—it’s never safe to go to sleep on election night. Some of us repeated the mistake in this month’s Slovakian election, dozing off after the exit poll, putting the pro-European liberal Progressive Slovakia ahead of Eurosceptic pro-Russian populist Robert Fico’s Smer party. The results the next morning wiped the smile off our faces.
Facing your political ghouls
As we’ve journeyed through these haunting tales, it’s evident that the political realm has its fair share of thrills and chills. But with resilience, strategy, and a touch of humour, our editors show that even the eeriest political spectres can be confronted.
Feeling brave enough to share your own political horror story? Comment below or join our newsletter for more spine-tingling tales and insights from the political crypt.