Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter

Portia Simpson Miller and Dr Peter Phillips

IT WILL be all or nothing for the two People's National Party (PNP) members who will square off in the presidential election on September 20.

President Portia Simpson Miller and Vice-President Dr Peter Phillips will have their sights fixed firmly on the party's top job when the Comrades meet at their annual conference. There is nothing in the PNP's constitution which prevents them from being nominated for the post of president, while at the same time hedging their bets by also being nominated for one of the four vice-president posts.

But representatives of the two camps have scoffed at this suggestion even as they prepare to submit their nominations before tomorrow's midday deadline. This will mean that, for the first time in more than a decade, either Simpson Miller or Phillips will not be counted among the elected officers of the PNP.

Victory is formality

That is no concern for the Simpson Miller camp, which says victory for its candidate is a formality.

Former PNP general secretary and Simpson Miller backer, Donald Buchanan, says rather than a nomination, his team is preparing to submit documents so that delegates can underline their support for the sitting president.

"All that Mrs Simpson Miller will be doing is to confirm her intention to continue her work as president of the People's National Party," Buchanan tells The Sunday Gleaner.

Buchanan, in his usual style, is dismissive of the challenge by Phillips.

"He has a record of challenging incumbents and there is a record of the outcome," Buchanan says, in obvious reference to the unsuccessful 1995 bid by Phillips to replace Robert Pickersgill as the party's chairman.

Role in election victory

Phillips, who completed a three-year stint as the PNP's general secretary in 1994, had received plaudits for his role in the party's victory in the 1993 general election and sought to use that to propel him to the chairman's post.

But he was soundly beaten by Pickersgill and did not return to the officer corps until 1999, when he was elected a vice-president.

Phillips also unsuccessfully contested the 2006 presidential race to replace P.J. Patterson. That time he was edged out by 237 votes by Simpson Miller, with almost 500 votes being shared by the other candidates, Dr Omar Davies and Dr Karl Blythe. Simpson Miller (756 votes) was not as successful in her 1992 run against P.J. Patterson (2,322) to succeed Michael Manley as PNP president.

Now, the Phillips backers know that another defeat could signal the end of his political career, but that is an outcome they are not contemplating.

"Dr Phillips is confident of victory, based on the strong support he is getting from the delegates and the moral support from scores of Jamaicans who believe he could lead the party and the country," says Danny Roberts, a member of the Phillips campaign team.

Roberts dismisses as ludicrous any speculation that Phillips would settle for anything less than the top job.

"That is arrant nonsense and would make a mockery of the leadership race. We are very clear of what our intentions are and where our support lies," Roberts adds.

Election record