JAMAICA Labour Party (JLP) leader, Bruce Golding, says the next general election will be decided on issues, primarily that of which party is best equipped to do more for the poor.

Buoyed by the latest Stone Poll results showing the JLP in a virtual dead heat with the PNP, a confident Golding told those in attendance at yesterday’s JLP Central Executive meeting at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston, that they should look for the election any time after October.

He also reiterated his party’s preparedness for the poll.

“Let me make it clear, that we are going to see to it that this election campaign is about the condition of the poor, and which party offers the best hope for the poor,” he told the cheering executives.

“So if Mrs Simpson Miller’s handlers are of the view that her identification with the poor is her strong point, then that’s fine, because we are going to make poor people the centre of this election campaign.”

In an obvious jab at the prime minister, Golding noted that the election campaign would not be about “hugging and kissing”, and challenged her commitment to the poor.

“Some people believe that, in order to endear yourself to the people, and since the majority of the people continue to be poor people, that you must glorify poverty. It started with Michael Manley and it is now continuing with Portia Simpson Miller. You glorify poverty to the extent that you convey the feeling that it is good to be poor.

“In this campaign we are going to challenge that, because if you really love poor people you must hate poverty,” the Opposition Leader said.