Simpson Miller (left) and Golding

THE PEOPLE'S National Party (PNP) will not be taken by surprise if Prime Minister Bruce Golding chooses to call a 'snap' election this year.

Speculation is rife that Golding could head to the polls this year as his party's majority in the Parliament is being threatened by pending court cases, challenging the eligibility of four of his party colleagues to sit as members in the Lower House.

The governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has a razor-thin four-seat margin over the PNP in the 60-seat House of Representatives.

If such a snap election is announced, Dr. Peter Phillips, a PNP vice-president, says his party stands ready to answer the call. However, he says that the PNP will not be caught up in the anticipation of such an election.

Instead, Dr. Phillips says, the PNP and the JLP must seek to find common ground on certain critical issues in order to improve conditions within Jamaica.

"There are some very difficult issues facing the country," Dr. Phillips tells The Sunday Gleaner.

Critical elements

"There is the need for building the country around some consensus on some critical elements so that the country can move forward," he adds.

Crime, education and the economy are some issues that Dr. Phillips wants Government and the PNP to be united around in Opposition, Dr. Phillips says that the PNP has its work cut out as it must play a critical role in nation building.

"The party leadership will be taking stock of the way forward, as to its role as an Opposition and more importantly, its role as a party," Dr. Phillips says.

On Thursday, the PNP changed from its hard-line position and now says it will dialogue with the JLP.

The PNP had backed out of bi-partisan talks with the JLP after Mr. Golding, speaking at a JLP annual conference in November, quipped that some members might have been suffering from "intellectual depravity" and that it seemed as if termites had infested their brains.

Mr. Golding, who, on election night, said he was going to build a country based on consensus, later extended an invitation to the Opposition to meet at Vale Royal in a bid to find consensus on the way forward.

Then, the PNP, through its leader Portia Simpson Miller, flatly rejected the invitation. The party's outgoing general secretary, Donald Buchanan, said that Mr. Golding was speaking out of "both sides of his mouth" as he used every opportunity to hurl "insults" at the PNP.

Global and local impact

However, after officers of the PNP met to review the Brian Meeks report, which was commissioned after the PNP lost the September 3 general election, Mrs. Simpson Miller agreed to bi-partisan talks with Government.

"We discussed at length the critical nature of the challenges, both global and local, and the impact of these on the Jamaican people," PNP leader Portia Simpson Miller said.

She added: "Consistent with our party's historic tradition of putting Jamaica's interest first, I now stand ready, together with the relevant officers of the People's National Party, to meet with the Hon. Bruce Golding, Prime Minister and Leader of the Jamaica Labour Party, to discuss urgent national issues."

Prime Minister Golding says the JLP "feels that much can be achieved through bipartisan collaboration."

- D.L.