Simpson Miller says reports on the ground have boosted her confidence. - File
PORTIA SIMPSON Miller is already looking forward to September 21 when she believes she will address the 70th annual conference as president of the People's National Party (PNP).
Currently, Simpson Miller is being challenged for the party's top job by Vice-president Dr Peter Phillips.
Simpson Miller, who got the job after beating three Comrades including Phillips in 2006, has no doubt that she will be returned as party president.
"I am very comfortable with the feedback that I have been getting from the ground," Simpson Miller told The Gleaner Monday.
She was adamant, however, that she is not campaigning.
Charismatic leader
A charismatic leader, Simpson Miller was held out by her predecessor P.J. Patterson as the PNP's only hope of a fifth term.
At the time of her election as party president, she had an approval rating of 78 per cent, but squandered the political capital and ended up losing the 2007 general election to the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). The JLP secured 32 seats to the PNP's 28 in the 60 seat Parliament.
The Phillips camp has said that Simpson Miller must make way as party president because she failed to unify the PNP and bring fifth term victory, the platforms on which she was elected party president.
Simpson Miller, meanwhile, has said that she is undaunted by the challenge against her. "September 20 is about re-ratifying my position as party president," she told The Gleaner.
"I am confident that after the 20th, I will be the one leading the process of renewal, which has already started within the People's National Party," Simpson Miller added.
'Arise and Renew', Dr Phillips' campaign, has maintained that his victory prospects are good. The campaign, however, stayed far from numbers.
Danny Roberts, spokesman for the Phillips election team, has said that "an overwhelming majority of the delegates with whom we have met have a silent determination to put Peter Phillips forward".
The Gleaner has been reliably informed that Team PNP, Simpson Miller's campaign, has already crunched the numbers and are optimistic that the party president will be returned with an increased majority.
In 2006, Simpson Miller polled 1,775 votes to Phillip's 1,538. Dr Omar Davies (283) and Dr Karl Blythe (204) got the remaining votes. The voters' list has since been increased by 15 per cent.
