Under the Constitution, the current Parliament must be dissolved in mid-November and Premier Jennifer Smith must call an election within three months of that date.

That means that the latest an election can be held is in mid-February of next year.

The timing of the actual election is a matter for the Premier herself, unless and until she is forced by the legislation to set a date.

What is certain is that sometime in the next 13 months or so, an election will be called, and that means that political discourse - or what passes for it - will become more hyperbolic as the year progresses.

That's natural. Both major parties will want to place themselves in the best light and their opponents in the worst as they attempt to attract the large bloc of still-uncommitted voters to them.

What is dangerous is if the hyperbole twists the facts and is allowed to continue unchecked. There have been examples of this already.

Telecommunications Minister Renee Webb claimed that she had checked and not one Government construction project under the United Bermuda Party had required the contractor to secure a performance bond. That was not true. If Ms Webb had really checked, she would have found that every project required one with the exception of Westgate, and the problems there amply demonstrate why a performance bond should always be required.

More recently, Government Senate Leader David Burch claimed travel spending had declined under the Progressive Labour Party by comparing recently released Cabinet travel statistics with an audit conducted in 1998. In fact, the two numbers were "apples and oranges".

One set only dealt with most Cabinet Ministers and senior civil servants who accompanied them on trips, the earlier set dealt with the whole of Government - all Cabinet Ministers and all civil servants.

This kind of behaviour is not entirely confined to the Government. Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell claimed that hotels had not received a penny they were promised from Government for hotel renovations under the Hotel Concessions Act. In fact, not a penny was due to be paid yet, although some monies were owed under previous duty rebates already contained in legislation.

Of course, Mr. Dodwell had already been a victim of this kind of behaviour himself when late Tourism Minister David Allen claimed he said his own hotel would go bankrupt without being granted rebates under the same legislation. This was a blatant untruth.

Then there was Premier Jennifer Smith's whopper that 2,000 jobs were created under the PLP when the growth in jobs was almost entirely due to better reporting and the hiring of temporary Census scrutineers.

The Westminster system and General Elections demand hard-hitting debate. Ideas, policies and achievements (or the lack thereof) should be tested in debate and in public.

But the misinterpretations, fabrications and outright fantasies outlined above have no place in politics and are also alarmingly easy to uncover and reveal. Politicians should be aware that their statements will be tested and if they cannot tell the truth, they should just keep quiet.