Jamaica elections 2016: Will Portia Simpson-Miller attend the debates against Andrew Holness?

As the Jamaican election campaign heats up, incumbent Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller says she is not afraid to face opposition leader Jamaica Labor Party (JLP) leader Andrew Holness, but he has to apologize to her.

Simpson-Miller has rejected a suggestion that she was trying to get out of the debates.

“We are not afraid to debate anybody. I debated Bruce Golding in 2007, I debated Andrew Holness and I beat him in the debates in 2011,” she declared. “They must deal with the issues that I have put on the table, then we can talk about debate.”

Simpson-Miller, through her attorney, gave Holness until last Saturday to say sorry for comments he made in a media interview that she believes were defamatory, warning that if he failed to apologize she would proceed with legal action against him.

In a letter to the Jamaica Debates Commission (JDC) last week, the PNP said that unless Holness retracted his statements, they had no intention of participating in any debate with him. The party also asked that the final of the 3 planned debates – the 90-minute leadership debate planned for January 20 – be held in a town hall format.

The JDC has said it is in no position to fulfill that request, because it cannot get involved in the dispute between the political parties, and Holness has not offered any apology.