POLITICAL Ombudsman Donna Parchment Brown says she stands ready to be a mediator to resolve the tension between Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and Opposition Leader Andrew Holness who have threatened each other with lawsuits in recent days.

Parchment Brown made the declaration at Emancipation Park yesterday at the signing of the political code of coduct for Kingston and St Andrew candidates of the two major political parties, including Simpson Miller and Holness, as campaigning activities intensify ahead of the February 25 general election.

“The Office of the Political Ombudsman stands ready to assist any candidate with any issue that they may have within the context of the election,” Parchment Brown said in response to a question from the

Jamaica Observer about the tension that has been brewing between the two leaders since Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Bert Samuels, the attorney for Simpson Miller, wrote to Holness demanding an apology for comments he made during a television interview on Tuesday.

Simpson Miller has taken issue with Holness’ alleged use of the term “con artist” while responding to her labelling of his “10-point plan” as a “10-point con”. Holness proceeded to list instances in which promises made by the People’s National Party (PNP) in their 2011 campaign were not fulfilled.

Holness has since hinted that he plans to counter-sue.

Yesterday, the political ombudsman said that she would be looking into the allegations and would make a decision shortly.

But even as she made the comment, tensions appeared to intensify between Simpson Miller’s PNP and Holness’ Jamaica Labour Party yesterday with the PNP insisting that it would not participate in any planned leadership debate until an apology is given.

Earlier at the signing of the code of conduct, Holness — who arrived late because of a previous engagement — extended greetings to Simpson Miller and other members of her party who were present.

Simpson Miller and her colleagues left right after the gesture.

But Holness said that he would not read too much into her action as it might be a case where the prime minister had another engagement.

According to him, the state of his relationship with the prime minister was “as a relationship ought to be between leaders of the country where we talk, we exchange letters and we work in the country’s best interest”.