Manchester Central candidates confident of victory

 

The candidates for the two main political parties vying for the Manchester Central constituency are expressing confidence they will win the seat. 

 

They are the People's National Party's Peter Bunting and the Jamaica Labour Party's Rhoda Crawford. Independent candidate Rohan Chung is also running challenging for the seat.

 

Ms. Crawford, who is a first-time candidate, said her team has been making a special effort to get her supporters out to vote. 

 

"Well, it has not been a challenging experience for my team and I. I have a full team in place, different individuals responsible for the different areas and so from very early, we have been sensitising our supporters as we move daily on our house-to-house campaign and we have done a series of social media adverts on WhatsApp. We have made use of the digital space to sensitise our supporters and just generally people of Manchester Central and the wider Jamaica," she insisted. 

 

When Radio Jamaica News caught up with Mr. Bunting shortly after he voted Thursday morning, he urged Jamaicans to go out and vote. 

 

He said based on the turnout for the special electors on Monday, the indication is that this year's voter turnout will be lower than in 2016, which had Jamaica's lowest voter turnout since Universal Adult Suffrage in 1944. 

 

He said special arrangements have been made for the elderly and the party will arrange transportation for people who have special concerns or particular illnesses. 

 

In the last general election, Mr. Bunting defeated the JLP's St. Aubyn Bartlett by 1,172 votes.

 

However, the Manchester Central seat is being closely watched as analysts expect a small margin of victory, similar to the 2011 general election, which saw JLP losing by just over 500 votes.