Home  News Regional News Portia, Peter battle for PNP top spot
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Portia, Peter battle for PNP top spot |
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Sunday, 21 September 2008 |
As the battle intensifies for the top spot in the People’s National Party, sitting President, Portia Simpson Miller and contender Dr. Peter Phillips are gearing up for Saturday’s election.
According to the PNP Secretariat everything is in place for the party’s leadership elections, including the roughly 4,500 delegates on the voters' list. The group will be electing the new president and four vice presidents.
Voting will take place at the National Arena complex from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Jamaicans will know who will lead the embattled opposition People’s National Party by 7.30 p.m.
While the party seems split almost evenly among the presidential contenders, Dr. Peter Phillips is looking to tip the scale in his direction and was confident enough to promise a Simpson Miller a place in the party according to a local newspaper.
Reports of infighting among PNP members have been rampant since former prime minister and PNP president P.J. Patterson resigned and left the party in a leaderhip vacuum. Simpson Miller and Phillips challenged each other for the party presidency, which Simpson Miller won.
But after the PNP’s loss to Jamaica Labour Party in the September 2007 general elections, divisions have widened and the loss has been blamed on this dichotomy between Simpson Miller supporters and Phillips backers.
Now, with the party image hanging in the balance and calls from party members to quell the volatility, both candidates are taking on the task of restoring the party’s image, despite who emerges the winner. |
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