Valentine: The Labourites are running like chickens without heads.

THE TWO major political parties are oozing confidence as they wrap up their campaigns for Tuesday's by-election in North East St Catherine.

Just under 18,300 persons are registered to vote in the constituency, and with today being the final day of campaigning, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the People's National Party (PNP) both claim that they have already done enough to capture the majority of votes.

"I am confident that you will see a surprise as the voters come out for me on election day," the PNP's candidate, Granville Valentine, told The Sunday Gleaner.

Valentine is facing the uphill task of trying to overturn an almost 1,000 vote deficit after the PNP lost the seat in the 2007 general election.

His party also lost the seat in the two previous general elections in 2002 and 1997, although the 1997 defeat was not official until years later, following a successful legal challenge by the then JLP standard-bearer, Abe Dabdoub.

predicting celebration

Mair: Some people are going to need an ambulance beside them Tuesday night after I win.

Despite history being against him, Valentine, the trade unionist-turned-politician, says all indications are that he will be the one celebrating Tuesday night.

"The Labourites are running like chickens without heads. They cannot understand how the PNP is getting this level of support, even in some traditional JLP areas, like Cheese Field," argued Valentine.

But Valentine's victory prediction has been scoffed at by the JLP's Gregory Mair, who is facing the electorate in North East St Catherine for the second time in less than two years.

"Some people are going to need an ambulance beside them Tuesday night after I win by an increased majority," Mair said.

Mair won the constituency by 959 votes over the PNP's Phyllis Mitchell in the 2007 general election, but the result was overturned by the courts after he admitted that he held Venezuelan citizenship at the time of the election.

After renouncing his Venezuelan citizenship, Mair is back on the ballot; but this time it is his opponent who is the political newcomer.

"When I ran in 2007, I didn't have a track record. Now I have 20 months of hard work and the people know what I'm about.

"All my canvasses show me winning by a massive margin. In fact, if all the JLP and all the PNP supporters vote, I will win by 3,543 votes," Mair told The Sunday Gleaner.

"It is all about performance. I have worked hard in the constituency over the past 20 months and the people have seen my work," declared Mair as he charged that North East St Catherine was ignored while the PNP was in power.

But Valentine says any boast about performance by Mair rings hollow.

"The people have been ignored and the young people are not satisfied with the level of representation they are getting," Valentine claimed.

pnp spot meetings

He said the PNP would close its campaign today with spot meetings and face-to-face campaigns.

"We don't organise meetings throughout our campaign. People just come out and block roads in numbers wherever we go. We don't have to bus in anybody, like some other people," Valentine said in a dig at the JLP, which has staged some massive meetings in the constituency since the by-election was announced.

In fact, the JLP will close its campaign with a mass meeting in Guys Hill today with its party leader, Prime Minister Bruce Golding, among the heavyweights expected to speak.

arthur.hall@gleanerjm.com