PNP POLITICS : Peter Bunting declares interest in PNP presidency..... But Portia Simpson Miller says she’s not stepping down now.....is it because I’m of a different gender?” Simpson Miller said when asked to respond to calls for her resignation

BY KIMONE FRANCIS Observer staff reporter francisk@jamaicaobserver.com  Tuesday, April 05, 2016  

Peter Bunting yesterday made public his interest in leading the People’s National Party (PNP), saying that he intends to appeal to the Opposition party’s delegates at the right time.

But while Bunting stopped short of publicly declaring that he would challenge PNP President Portia Simpson Miller at the party’s annual conference scheduled for September, PNP insiders said he would offer

himself for the job, even if Simpson Miller refuses to step down. 

Peter Bunting making a point to PNP President Portia Simpson Miller
 at the party’s 75th annual conference. (Photo: Observer file)

Based on Simpson Miller’s comments at a PNP news conference yesterday, Bunting will be forced to face her in an election, as she made it clear that she had no intention of leaving now.

“I’m not the only political leader in Jamaica that lost an election, and I didn’t hear a call for the others to step aside.

So I don’t know why there would be a call now for me to step aside;

is it because I’m of a different gender?” Simpson Miller said when asked

to respond to calls for her resignation since the PNP lost the February

25 General Election.

After the news conference, Bunting, while stating that he has “a great deal of respect and affection” for Simpson Miller, told journalists that he thought it was ideal that she determines the

timetable for her own departure. “At the appropriate time I intend to offer myself to the delegates,

but for the immediate future I intend to focus on the local government election,” he said. more