Police are investigating after a Liberal Democrat candidate’s car was vandalised in Sittingbourne, Kent.
First time candidate Alexander Stennings, who is running for Swale Borough Council, was left shaken up when he found his red Suzuki vandalised and one of its tyres slashed on Thursday morning.
The car had also been spray painted with a swastika and UKIP.
Stennings, 27, who is the Lib Dems’ youngest candidate in the election, said he has been left devastated by the incident.
His friend and Liberal Democrat councillor Anthony Hook told HuffPost UK they didn’t believe it was a coincidence that his car was chosen when he was running for election, as the graffiti was obviously politically motivated in nature.
“It’s just a despicable act to intimidate a candidate in an election. I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Hook said.
A local garage was able to clean away the paint and fix the tyre, however the car remains scratched in places.
“What was written on there was UKIP and swastikas, which suggests it was some kind of far right sympathiser and it’s not a coincidence that the car they hit belonged to a Liberal Democrat candidate. It’s very sad but that’s the only conclusion we can draw.
“The people who do this kind of thing need to know they aren’t going to intimidate anyone. It’s not going to stop people like Alex going out to campaign for their community because they care about their community and they want to change things for the better.
He added: “It’s just outrageous that this has happened to him, or anyone.”
Stennings told Kent Online: “This has left me completely shocked and devastated. This is my first time standing in an election. I certainly wasn’t expecting this. It has been really harrowing and distressing.
“I had read about candidates in other areas being attacked but never thought something like this would happen here.”
Kent Police say they were called just after 3am on Thursday to a report of criminal damage to a car and said they have started looking into the incident.
It’s believed a neighbour witnessed the vandalism and was able to make a note of a registration number.