MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Mandeville Mayor Donovan Mitchell, the People’s National Party (PNP) aspirant for Manchester Central, has condemned the vandalism of posters and flags bearing the image of his political rival, Rhoda Crawford, ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections.

His comments came hours after the Jamaica Observer published a story on Tuesday in which Crawford, the Jamaica Labour Party Member of Parliament for Manchester Central, repeated a claim that “hired thugs” were to blame for the tearing down of her posters.

Mitchell, in a video posted on his Instagram account mid-afternoon Tuesday, called on his supporters to not participate in political intimidation.

“I have heard and I have seen a clip with flags and billboards for my opponent being burnt. I want to say, categorically, that is not the PNP’s style of campaigning. That is not Donovan’s style of campaigning. We have to lift the standard of the campaign,” he said.

“We are not going back to the old days of this political intimidation where people become afraid. This is not what Jamaica needs at this time, so I am calling on the persons who are purportedly my supporters to desist from doing so. We will lift the standard of the campaign with decency, discipline, and decorum,” he added.

“This is not what the democratic process is about; it is about persons lifting their choice to where they want to go. I am appealing to all Jamaicans, to all the electors in central Manchester who support me, I am not that type of person. We have to lift the campaign so that everyone can see that this is a different style of politics. In central Manchester we are used to a politics where everyone is seen as supporting someone, but everyone is one family,” Mitchell said.