THE Opposition Jamaica Labour Party has reiterated that it is unfazed by the recent opinion polls which show the ruling People’s National Party holding a slim one precentage point lead outside the margin of error.

Both parties are set to do battle in the February 25 general election, the 17th such event since universal human suffrage. The parties are expected to field full slates of candidates for the 63 constituencies on Nomination Day, which is set for February 9.

On Tuesday night, at a rally of thousands of supporters in Gayle, St Mary Western, Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Daryl Vaz urged Labourites not to panic, but to let their votes speak on Election Day.

“The only true poll is the people’s poll,” Vaz told the bell-ringing Labourites. The bell is the symbol of the JLP.

He was supported by veteran MP Lester ‘Mike’ Henry.

“I don’t pay attention to poll. The Jamaica Labour Party has the best set of candidates,” Henry said, noting that the estimated 80,000 People’s National Party supporters, who gathered in Half-Way-Tree on Sunday to hear Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller announce the election date, neither scared him nor the JLP.

Meanwhile, Henry, Vaz and other JLP stalwarts used the occasion to jeer current MP for St Mary Western, Joylan Silvera, whom they said will be dumped by the people on February 25.

Silvera, who narrowly defeated the JLP’s Robert Montague in 2011, was described as a “bench warmer” who had nothing to show for his tenure as MP.