The Elec­toral Com­mis­sion of Ja­maica (ECJ), is urg­ing po­lit­i­cal par­ties and sup­port­ers to show re­spect for each oth­er and the de­mo­c­ra­t­ic process amid grow­ing re­ports of van­dal­ism in­volv­ing cam­paign ma­te­ri­als.

The warn­ing comes as the is­land gears up for elec­tions, with in­ci­dents emerg­ing of po­lit­i­cal posters, ban­ners, and fly­ers be­ing torn down or de­faced, al­leged­ly by in­di­vid­u­als op­pos­ing the can­di­dates or par­ties fea­tured.

“This be­hav­iour un­der­mines the spir­it of democ­ra­cy and peace­ful po­lit­i­cal en­gage­ment,” said ECJ Chair­man Earl Jar­rett. “We un­der­stand the pas­sion that comes with po­lit­i­cal cam­paign­ing, but we must all re­mem­ber that democ­ra­cy thrives where there is mu­tu­al re­spect.”

The gen­er­al elec­tion is wide­ly ex­pect­ed by Sep­tem­ber.

The ECJ, is re­mind­ing all Ja­maicans that every cit­i­zen has the right to freely ex­press their po­lit­i­cal sup­port with­out fear or in­ter­fer­ence. Po­lit­i­cal lead­ers are be­ing en­cour­aged to pro­mote uni­ty, tol­er­ance, and re­straint dur­ing the cam­paign pe­ri­od.