Daraine Luton, Staff Reporter

WITH SIX days to go before People's National Party (PNP) delegates determine who leads the party's renewal process, the campaign teams of Portia Simpson Miller and Dr Peter Phillips are busy playing the numbers game.

Checks by The Sunday Gleaner last week revealed that Phillips' Arise and Renew campaign and Simpson Miller's Team PNP continue to battle for some key parishes, which could determine the outcome of Saturday's presidential election.

campaign rally

The Simpson Miller campaign will stage a delegate rally at the National Indoor Sports Centre in St Andrew today. Simpson Miller will address delegates from Regions 2, 3 and 4. These regions comprise the parishes of St Mary, St Thomas, Portland, Kingston, St Andrew, St Catherine and Clarendon.

Phillips' constituency conference is expected to take the form of a mass rally at Tarrant High School in east central St Andrew.

claims, counterclaims

Both campaigns are attempting to muscle enough bodies into their meetings to send resounding messages.

Both campaigns have claimed greater support in the Corporate Area, Portland, Trelawny, Clarendon, St Elizabeth, St Ann and Westmoreland.

The contest will be close in St James, but Simpson Miller is said to have a fighting chance. Persons close to her campaign have conceded defeat in Manchester.

Approximately 2,500 delegates make up the block of Regions 2, 3 and 4. Region 3, which comprises Kingston and St Andrew, has approximately 1,000 delegates.

The Sunday Gleaner has been reliably informed that the Arise and Renew campaign has been benefiting from the Blythe factor in western Jamaica.

Meanwhile, Dr Karl Blythe, a former PNP vice-president, is believed to have been partially responsible for Simpson Miller's victory in 2005. It is said that he directed his delegates to vote for Simpson Miller, though this has never been admitted by either Blythe or Simpson Miller.

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com