The politics of fisticuffs

Both incidents point to a disturbing trend within local politics where intolerance has been rising on the back of increasingly acidic rhetoric and vitriol.

In the aftermath of the 2014 general elections – statistically the most fiercely contested poll in the country’s history – the political atmosphere has become more competitive and its prevailing dialogue, more intense. Whether in the battles for by-elections or inner-party polls, the race for political office has become a cut-throat affair with gibes and taunts filling the headlines and in turn creating further fodder for antagonists on social media.