'Debate not only measure of democracy's health' - PNP

Arguing that Portia Simpson Miller is not afraid to face Andrew Holness in national leadership election debates, the campaign director for the People's National Party (PNP) said yesterday that the PNP president was not being shielded.

"I think it is well recognised that in the last debates, she won the debates," Phillips said.

The PNP backed out of national leadership debates saying that it would not participate unless the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) leader made disclosures about the source of funding for his house in Beverley Hills and apologised for certain statements he made.

"We believe that the people of Jamaica have had and will have again ample opportunity to form a judgement about the relative merits of the two main political parties offering themselves for election on February 25," Phillips said.

He said that the PNP would be having a series of national broadcasts by representatives of the party, including Simpson Miller.

"It is not the case that only a 60-minute or 90-minute engagement on one evening will constitute the be all and end all, and the only measure of the health of our democracy," he said of the debates.