Omar Anderson, Gleaner Writer
SEVEN OF the 11 People's National Party (PNP) vice-presidential contenders have backed out of the race to preserve what they say is party unity.
The pull-out came late Monday following a meeting of the party's Executive Committee.
A release issued yesterday by PNP general secretary Burchell Whiteman, confirmed the pull-out.
INCUMBENT TO REMAIN
Monday night's action means that the four incumbent vice-presidents, Local Government Minister Portia Simpson Miller, National Security Minister Dr. Peter Phillips, Development Minister Dr. Paul Robertson, and Member of Parliament Dr. Karl Blythe, will be returned en bloc at next month's annual conference.
Those who pulled out include Junior Tourism Minister Wykeham McNeill, Junior Water and Housing Minister Harry Douglas, and East Portland councillor Dexter Roland who are supporting vice-presidential candidate Dr. Peter Phillips.
Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke and his State Minister Errol Ennis, who are supporting Mrs. Simpson Miller, have also pulled out.
"We had an executive meeting and it was felt that in the interest of the party we should defer our candidacies for a year," Dr. McNeill said.
For his part, Mr. Clarke said he pulled out partly because he would soon retire from active politics.
According to him, he returned to the island on Sunday, two days after he was nominated.
"I am retiring from politics, why should I want to run now when I'm on my way out?" he said.
In February this year, Paul Burke, the former PNP Region Three chairman, announced on the floor of the rescheduled 66th annual conference that he would run as one of the vice-presidential candidates.
This caught the party secretariat off-guard, and the voting scheduled for that day was postponed to facilitate Mr. Burke who was unsuccessful in his bid.
