Sibblies: I’ve Not Seen One Poll That Says I’m Losing

By: Admin

Image caption: Rudolph Brown/Photographer Jamaica Labour Party candidate Dwight Sibblies touring a section of Clarendon Northern on Friday, August 14, as she seeks to shore up support to unseat Horace Dalley of the People’s National Party.

Motivated by the Jamaica Labour Party’s success in the Portland Eastern by-election last year when it managed to end the PNP’s decades-long hold on the seat, Dwight Sibblies thinks he can do the same in Northern Clarendon when he faces People’s National Party veteran Horace Dalley.

“Jamaican people have matured in their politics. That maturity doesn’t stop in East Portland. It continues right across Jamaica, and people are not voting because dem mother born and dem father born and tradition. People are voting for change and for better,” Sibblies, the JLP’s new man in the ring in Clarendon Northern, told The Gleaner during a recent visit to the constituency.

He charged that the constituency has suffered under Dalley’s stewardship, pointing to job opportunities, modern infrastructure, and water as some of the major issues.

“This constituency votes for people who work. Once they get honest representation, they vote. If you look at the voter turnout, even when the national voter turnout is low, the voter turnout for Clarendon Northern is usually in the 60s,” the JLP contender said.

He said that he is running an issues-centred campaign to build his support base.

Pressed on his political astuteness, Sibblies told The Gleaner that there has been a groundswell of support for his candidacy, and he is expecting nothing but a victory come September 3.

“Many a polls have been done. I have not seen one yet that says I am not winning,” Sibblies said. “I have not seen one.”

Traditionally, the JLP gets most of its votes in Clarendon Northern out of the Kellits division, but Sibblies is looking to expand the party’s footprint, even cutting into Dalley’s Crofts Hill stomping ground.

“There is nothing called stronghold any more. Jamaicans are rubbishing that. When Jamaicans are rubbishing that, we cannot hold on to it. We either get with it or be left behind,” said Sibblies, who added that he was pleased with the results of his canvassing.

“I am very ready for September 3,” he said. “Will I win? The people of Northern Clarendon is going to win, and that is the biggest victory that will happen in Jamaica.”

romario.scott@gleanerjm.com