Dear readers,

The Herald has decided to take down its Person of the Year survey from the Internet. We have been using a three-way system – a survey on the ground, an online opinion poll and a panel of 10 experts – since 2013 to choose our Person of the Year. This year the online poll has led to an unprecedented hate directed towards the magazine, deeply dividing public opinion and making the entire process controversial.

It is never the Herald’s intention to sensationalise, incite hate or promote bigotry. And it is for this reason that we have decided to not conduct the online opinion poll this year. We apologise to our readers for the inconvenience.