MANCHESTER, Jamaica — Former Member of Parliament Peter Bunting has confirmed that he will be contesting the Manchester Southern constituency at the next parliamentary elections for the People’s National Party (PNP).

For months there has been speculation that the former Manchester Central MP was headed to the neighbouring constituency of Manchester Southern to challenge the Jamaica Labour Party’s Robert Chin.

However, Bunting on Sunday confirmed his decision to return to representational politics.

“After being asked a number of times, I will say that I was reluctant to go back into representational politics. After I was convinced that the people of south Manchester deserve a better MP than the one they have now. After I was convinced of that and I said alright, they gave me the time, I dealt with my personal business. Time come now to hit the road in south Manchester,” Bunting told PNP supporters at a meeting in Porus, Manchester on Sunday.

A video of his announcement has been posted on the PNP’s Manchester Southern Facebook page.

Bunting lost to the ruling JLP’s Rhoda Crawford in the September 3, 2020 general election. Crawford polled 8,139 votes over Bunting’s 6,989 votes.

Bunting had won three consecutive times in Manchester Central from 2007, along with another triumph in Clarendon South Eastern, his first, over former Prime Minister Hugh Lawson Shearer in the 1993 General Election.

— Kasey Williams