'People power' will decide East Hanover seat — Duncan

BY PAUL A REID Observer writer reidp@jamaicaobserver.com

Thursday, December 15, 2011

SANDY BAY, Hanover — VETERAN People's National Party (PNP) politician Dr DK Duncan says it will be "people power" that will give him the edge in his contest against the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP's) Paula Kerr-Jarrett for the Eastern Hanover parliamentary seat in the upcoming general election.

The PNP candidate, who will be seeking to retain the seat he won over the JLP's Barrington Gray by 10 votes after a magisterial recount in the 2007 general election, was accompanied by a massive crowd of orange-clad supporters, as he made his way to the nomination centre at the Sandy Bay courthouse on Monday.

He later scoffed at a recent poll that showed him trailing the JLP candidate by nine percentage points.

Pointing to the crowd that blocked traffic outside the courthouse, Duncan said: "Those polls done two week ago are like ancient history. Look outside, that poll speaks for itself."

He explained that the poll was done while he was away on vacation for six weeks, adding that he will win the seat by a margin of over 1,000 votes.

"If the elections were today, the margin would be 600-700 votes," Duncan said, pointing out that the Eastern Hanover seat was now "a safe seat for the PNP".

Duncan's opponent, Kerr- Jarrett, who was the first to arrive at the nomination centre, said while "things are moving fast", her team would be ready for the December 29 poll.

Asked whether there had been any surprises during the campaign, she remarked: "Of course, everyday is a new day. I used to say my months were merging into weeks, now I say my days are merging into hours and the hours into minutes. Everything is going so quickly but everybody has been supportive and encouraging and we are just looking forward to the 29th of December."

She said her foray into politics was "the first step of a great adventure".

"I believe that like many others out there who have a lot to contribute to Jamaica, I want to be an agent of change that will take us to the next level that the people of Jamaica have been longing for," she told Observer West."

Earlier inside the courthouse, she likened the nomination process to a wedding, pointing out that, "I am getting married, marrying the people of Eastern Hanover".

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'People power' will decide East Hanover seat — Duncan