DR. PAUL Robertson, the campaign director for the governing People's National Party (PNP), has said that he is surprised that his party is not farther ahead in the polls. Robertson spoke with The Gleaner yesterday in Portmore where the PNP, with Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller leading the throng, focused its road campaign activities.

"I am not surprised by the results, but I am a little concerned that we are not farther ahead," Dr. Robertson said in relation to the latest Gleaner-commissioned Bill Johnson polls.

Johnson's poll, conducted on July 14 and 15 among 1,008 people in 84 communities across the island, measured electoral supportfor the PNP at 40 per cent and 34 per cent for the JLP.

Dr. Robertson, who is currently the Member of Parliament for South East St. Catherine, told The Gleaner that he expects party support to increase by election day, August 27.

Johnson's findings a month earlier had placed the PNP at 38 per cent, and the JLP at 31 per cent. As it relates to the South East St. Catherine seat which poll results earlier this year suggest will be a very closely contested race between the PNP's Colin Fagan and the JLP's Arthur Williams, Dr. Robertson said it is safe.

"We are going to win this seat. This is PNP territory. In fact, I think we are going to win all the Portmore seats," Dr. Robertson said.