Peta-Gaye Clachar/Staff Photographer
Peter Bunting, People's National Party candidate for Central Manchester, greets supporters after he arrived to be nominated at the Mandeville Courthouse on nomination day, August 7.

PETER BUNTING, the People's National Party (PNP) candidate for Central Manchester, has dismissed assertions that the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) will win the seat in the upcoming general election.

Bunting, who, along with PNP president Portia Simpson Miller, toured the constituency before staging a mass meeting in Porous, Manchester, said the PNP is on its way to retaining Central Manchester.

"I hear that somebody said that from 2003, Central Manchester is supporting Labourite. Well, anybody who was on the tour today will tell you to forget it. Central Manchesterloves Portia," Bunting said as he addressed thousands of party supporters Thursday night.

Bunting is challenging the JLP's Sally Porteous, deputy mayor of Mandeville, for the Central Manchester seat that John Junor, Bunting's campaign manager, held since 1989.

A dead-heat

A Gleaner-commissioned Bill Johnson poll in April found Ms. Porteous in the driver's seat and she looked a safe bet for Parliament over then PNP candidate Vando Palmer. However, Palmer resigned were charging that others in the PNP was underminng his candidacy. Hence the insertion of Bunting in May. Recent opinion polls indicate a dead heat between both candidates.

Thursday night, Bunting told Comrades that things were looking good for election day, August 27, and he was confident of victory.

"Comrades, we are in the final stretch and I am telling you, the momentum in Central Manchester is building; the vibe is there," Bunting said.