The removal of One Bermuda Alliance signage and personal attacks on candidates is of no benefit to the island’s voting population, the Opposition leader has declared.

Jarion Richardson said yesterday that in the wake of an incident in which a party political banner was torn down in Constituency 25 (Warwick North East), the OBA had called on the island’s political parties and candidates to condemn all forms of political vandalism and “raise the tone” of the election.

At a press conference at the party headquarters, he said: “It seems to have fallen on deaf ears — this childishness continues.

“All OBA candidates have heard the same thing while out canvassing — that voters are sick and tired of the constant bickering, name-calling and personal attacks.”

He added: “Stealing signs and taking the time to mail a flyer with nothing but baseless and personal attacks shows it’s not about talking through the problems to solve them.

“It’s about suppressing anyone different and continuing our history of political intimidation and political disenfranchisement.”

Mr Richardson was critical of a flyer that he said had circulated in the public domain attacking his character.

The Progressive Labour Party then called on the community to respect the political signage of all parties.

Its response came after the Gazette requested comment following Mr Richardson’s suggestion that the PLP could have been behind the contents and circulation of the flyer.

The PLP said its signs had also been damaged and taken down.

The party added: “This should not happen, and we call on all members of the community to respect the signage of all candidates, parties and campaigns during this election.”

With little more than a week to go until the General Election, Mr Richardson urged political parties and supporters to “put and end” to dirty politics.

He said: “This quality of debate, or lack thereof, will never solve anything.

“Let’s make this election about fixing problems, not focusing on personalities.

“This is not The Young and the Restless; this is our lives, our future, our hope.”

Mr Richardson, the OBA candidate for Constituency 23 (Paget West), said that over the past decade the quality of the island’s political spectrum had gone into decline.

He said: “We stopped valuing each other and we started valuing things over people; we started valuing ideals over people.

“We just gave up on each other and started fighting each other instead of the problems that are affecting all of us.

“We need to stop that as quickly as we can.”

He said the island was plagued by issues from high housing costs to “broken” infrastructure and an education system beset with problems.

He added: “We need a government that fixes problems, not issuing more and more flowery promises.”

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