Bermuda Party faithful should be about a tit-for-tat advertisement battle between Devonshire South primary candidates Joe Gibbons and Michael Dunkley.

Mr. Gibbons sparked the battle when -- contrary to party convention -- he ran an ad featuring a picture of himself posing with Premier Pamela Gordon and deputy Premier Jerome Dill in Monday's issue of The Royal Gazette .

That brought a complaint from the Dunkley camp to the UBP's Disputes Committee, which ruled Mr. Dunkley should be given "equal time'' with the Premier and Deputy Premier. His ad appears today on Page 9.

"We don't normally have these ads because they look like an endorsement,'' Chairman of the Disputes Committee, Senator Gary Pitman, said last night.

"Under our primary rules all Party officers are to remain neutral and it's always been accepted the Premier and Deputy Premier would remain neutral as well.

"We opted for a balancing act'' added Mr. Pitman, who said no other ads featuring Party officers would be running after today.

"It was a misunderstanding,'' Mr. Gibbons last night told The Royal Gazette .

Saying he was unaware of the rule, Mr. Gibbons was informed of the Disputes Committee's decision at a meeting yesterday morning.

"Fair enough. They obviously want to make it as fair as possible,'' he said.

Mr. Dunkley reiterated the Party line, saying it was only fair he be allowed to run a similar ad.