LIBERAL Democrat leader Charles Kennedy is due in Cardiff tonight to give a final boost to his party in Wales.

A pre-election rally at the Welsh Institute of Sport, Sophia Gardens, will allow Mr Kennedy to stir the troops as the election campaign enters its final three days. Party insiders say it is likely to be his last visit of the campaign.

Mr Kennedy has been a weekly visitor to Cardiff throughout the past month of campaigning. Cardiff Central - won by the Lib Dems' Jenny Randerson at the Assembly election - is the party's number one target seat in Wales this time. Candidate Jenny Willott is trying to unseat former Welsh Office minister John Owen Jones. However, a poll conducted on behalf of HTV last week suggested that she is unlikely to succeed.

But the party insisted that there was still all to play for in the final week. All their resources have been concentrated on the seat, with Mr Kennedy and his predecessor Paddy Ashdown both taking time to be seen with Ms Willott.

They are also hoping to hold on to their Welsh seats in Brecon and Radnor, and Montgomeryshire.

Mr Kennedy invited Lib Dem Assembly leader Mike German and a handful of other senior party figures to a strategy meeting in Inverness on the weekend, where they discussed party strategy.

By common consent, Mr Kennedy has had a successful campaign, raising his own, and his party's profile. However, he started from a very low point in terms of personal recognition and will have to work hard to maintain his new higher profile when parliament resumes.

At Prime Minister's question time, his non-confrontational style has often led to him being squeezed out of the gladiatorial contests between Tony Blair and William Hague.