Vaz kick-starts re-election campaign, declares Portland seats safe
Published:Monday | May 8, 2023 | 12:59 AMGareth Davis Sr/Gleaner Writer
PORT ANTONIO, Portland:
Portland Western Member of Parliament (MP) Daryl Vaz officially kicked off his campaign for a fifth term on Sunday, scoffing at recent poll findings indicating that the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) was losing ground in the constituency and the neighbouring Portland Eastern.
Addressing party supporters at the JLP’s Area Council Two meeting at Port Antonio High School on Sunday, he said that once the party machinery hits the ground, the real strength of the support will be on full display.
“Mid-term for any Government is a difficult time. Mid-term of a second term is not an easy time. Mid-term coming on the heels of COVID is not a good or an easy time,” said Vaz, who has held the seat since 2007.
“When I speak to you, I speak to you as a political magician. I turned around a seat that was won for 18 years [by the People’s National Party], and I win it for four terms so far, in good and bad times,” he boasted.
“I see my wife come into a situation where she had to face a by-election before she reach where she wanted to reach,” he said of Portland Eastern MP Ann-Marie Vaz, who was first elected in 2019 in a by-election called after the murder of the MP Dr Lynvale Bloomfield.
“Dem send the most popular man at the time in the People’s National Party,” he continued, referring to former PNP Vice-President Damion Crawford. “ ... You see when dem bad mouth my Government, bad mouth my colleagues, and bad mouth my wife, you know say mi get wicked.”
Vaz told party supporters that since he and his wife entered politics, they have managed to change the fortunes of Portland and have assisted greatly in shaping the lives of residents.
Vaz noted that while he respects the findings of the polls, which showed that the JLP had fallen behind the opposition PNP in both constituencies, pointed out that the only poll that truly matters is the ballot.
“In September 2020, di pastor (Bishop Purcell Jackson) that run against Mrs Vaz left Portland and has never been seen since. I can tell you that big QC (Queen’s Counsel Valerie Neita-Robertson) that turn KC (King’s Counsel] now, weh everybody say was coming down to deal with Daryl, she lost by the biggest margin out of all four candidates that I have run against. And no candidate has ever run twice against me,” he told Labourites.