Garwin Davis, Sunday Gleaner Writer

While Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller is confident that her party's firm grip on Region Two - comprising the parishes of St. Mary, Portland and St. Thomas - will continue, Opposition leader Bruce Golding is predicting victory in at least four of the seven seats that are up for grabs.

In a meeting in Annotto Bay, St. Mary, on Friday, an energised Simpson Miller said her party was so confident of a clean sweep of the region that "I feel as if I should just fly the gate now and call the election."

"The one seat that we don't have we are coming for it," she told cheering supporters. "Believe me when I say that the queen of the pack - Rosemary Shaw - will win Western St. Thomas for the People's National Party and give us back the entire Region Two."

At present, the People's National Party (PNP) has six of the seven seats in Region Two. The only exception is in Western St. Thomas where the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) James Robertson is a strong incumbent. Many pundits are also of the view that Region Two, as was the case in 2002 where there were some very tight races, particularly in Western Portland and South East St. Mary, may well be the area to decide the outcome of the election.

Confident

But countered Golding: "They could talk all they want about sweeping, but our canvassing is showing that we are going to reverse their majority. We are very confident of victories by Robertson in Western St. Thomas, Daryl Vaz in East Portland, Bobby Montaque in Western St. Mary and Torn Peralto in South Eastern St. Mary. The other three races, especially in Eastern Portland where Dennis Wright is giving Donald Rhodd all he can handle, remain very competitive."

A worrying sign for the PNP is that despite the massive turnout for the rally in Annotto Bay on Friday, mobilisation in terms of supporters from the parish of Portland, and also in South East St. Mary appeared weak. One only had to see the evidence from the stage where there were muted responses to presentations by Harry Douglas (South East St. Mary), Abe Dabdoub (Western Portland) and Donald Rhodd (Eastern Portland).

"We would really like for them to call the election," Golding told The Sunday Gleaner: "The Prime Minister seems to be of the view that she can just walk into these constituencies and, despite the years of neglect by her government, everything will be okay. Do you realise the kind of message she is sending here?

"What she is saying is that no matter how badly we have been doing, no matter the suffering in many of these areas, no matter how much we have abandoned the people, all I need to do is just show up and wave and all will be forgiven."

Undaunted, Simpson Miller said her tour through the three St. Mary constituencies on Friday only served to reaffirm in her mind that the PNP, come election day, will be the overwhelming choice of the people.

"The man in green knows that the real leader is now out there and he is trembling," she taunted. "Everywhere I go today it was all about Portia. I could feel the love of the people. Today, we send a signal to the man in green. Tonight he will truly understand and appreciate the strength of a woman."

'A worrying sign for the PNP is that despite the massive turnout for the rally in Annotto Bay on Friday, mobilisation in terms of supporters from the parish of Portland, and also in South East St. Mary appeared weak.'