The COVID19 pandemic has had staggering effects on Southern European countries. National governments have resorted to restrictions of rights and mobility (lockdowns, etc.) to mitigate the impact of the virus on the health of their populations. The EU’s institutions and the national governments have also tried to promote a new set of public policies focused on the green and digital transition to reduce the socio-economic impact of the pandemic and to promote a swift recovery. Citizens have adapted their old work and life habits to avoid contagions, which has frequently been done reluctantly and lead to protests. We know less about what has happened with the key political actors such as political parties beyond their discourse and political communication strategies. The aim of this panel, co-sponsored with the South European Society and Politics Standing Group of the European Consortium of Political Research, is to provide a general account of the main changes happened to Southern European political parties during the pandemic. One leading factor of such transformations appears to be their need to migrate key organizational functions to the digital sphere. As many other institutions and organizations, Political parties had to digitize to cope with mobility restrictions. But it is easy to guess that such transformations have been occurred at different paces and in different dimensions depending on key features of each party (size, ideology, age, government position). Hence, this panel welcomes case studies or comparative papers helping to better understand transformations such as - New campaigning strategies - The digitalization of different party functions (funding, recruiting, mobilizing, party congresses, etc.) - The introduction of democratic innovations (primaries, deliberation, participation, etc.) - Autocratic changes (e.g. changing internal democracy to unelected but strong or popular party leaders or candidates) - The appearance or growth of new political actors (new radical left and right, technocratic populist parties, anti-vaccine parties, agrarian parties, etc.) - Changes in their policymaking practices, possibly including new digital tools and platforms. - The development of new digital ecosystems, including the development of affordances, processes, and tools to fulfil the party’s functions, internally and/or externally. The panel welcomes contributions both in English and Spanish.