Vandals again target campaign of Edmonton council candidates

Elections for Council in Edmonton has seen vandalism in Ward 9 where cars of supporters are being targeted now.

Candidate Payman Parseyan said a volunteer had the back window of her car smashed over the weekend after she added a large Parseyan sticker. She stopped for a few minutes at the Windermere HomeSense and found the damage when she returned.

“This is one of my supporter’s vehicles,” Parseyan said. “So this is unacceptable.” Vandals struck Parseyan’s personal vehicle last month. He said his Audi sedan, wrapped with campaign advertising, was keyed. “I had it wrapped all the way around and that was damaged to the point that it was a total loss,” he said. Some of his election signs up and down Rabbit Hill Road have also been defaced.

Five candidates are running in Ward 9 — the Terwillegar-Riverbend area and further south. There is no incumbent; Bryan Anderson is not running again.

Candidate Sandy Pon said she also had a large campaign sign destroyed. It was caught on video, but she didn’t report it to police. Instead, her campaign team tracked the damage to a small group of individuals who have also been calling her racial slurs on social media, she said.

So far, she said, her team is just watching and hoping it doesn’t escalate to require police: “I’m learning to block people.”

Candidate Rob Agostinis said he’s had a few lawn signs pulled, but nothing like what’s happened to Parseyan: “It’s sad how people react. It’s just a campaign.”

Parseyan said he doesn’t think the damage was done by a competing campaign. The candidates are all “very respectable people.”