Leader of the main Jamaican opposition People’s National Party (PNP), Portia Simpson Miller, has announced that she will be stepping down from the position come April this year.
The former prime minister told delegates at a meeting of the National Executive Council (NEC) recently, in the central parish of Manchester that she will tender her resignation as opposition leader to Governor General Sir Patrick Allen after she makes her contribution to the Budget Debate in Parliament.
Simpson Miller, 71, said while she will resign as opposition leader, she will remain a Member of Parliament for St. Andrew South West.
The party will host a special delegates’ conference on March 26 to choose a new leader.
Dr. Peter Phillips, an economist and former finance minister is being tipped to take over the position, but he will need at least 50 per cent of delegates to affirm his presidency.
Simpson Miller has served the PNP as president for 11 years and served twice as prime minister.
In the General Election last year, she lost to the Jamaica Labor Party’s (JLP) Andrew Holness and this prompted calls for her to give up the leadership of the party.
