THE People’s National Party (PNP) seems to be holding firm to its position on the national political debates, insisting that the party will not participate unless Opposition Leader Andrew Holness apologises to Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and respond to questions surrounding his Beverly Hills, St Andrew property.

“We have taken a strong position and we have outlined the terms and conditions on which we will enter into a debate. Obviously, if Mr Holness meets those conditions we will be ready, ready,” PNP General Secretary Paul Burke told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

The PNP, said Burke, will issue a statement today to notify the country on whether or not the issues have been resolved and if the party will be participating in the political debate or not.

However, despite a promise to respond to the Jamaica Debates Commisison today, it is likely that the PNP will hold on to its last-minute demands and opt out of the face-off between its president, Portia Simpson Miller, and Holness, the Jamaica Labour Party leader.

The PNP had indicated from last Thursday that the party would only agree to a debate if Holness complies with their request for him to apologise to the prime minister for an unflattering comment that he made about her, and retract statements that he had made regarding the February 7 fatal shooting while the JLP was holding its mass rally in Sam Sharp Square, Montego Bay, where three people where shot and killed.

According to the PNP, in an advertisement published in yesterday’s

Sunday Observer, Holness referred to the shooting incident as “an act of terror” and a “ barefaced and heartless attack on the democratic process of Jamaica,” and his utterances have “grave and serious implications for Jamaican especially in the regional and international community.”

“If they were to believe Holness, that other than criminal elements internal to the JLP were involved, then Jamaica could be seen as a terrorist state,” the PNP said in the advertisement.

Additionally, the PNP had asked the Opposition leader to answer several questions regarding his property, including financing arrangements.

“Of course, we want to go into the debate and that is a positive step,” Burke said.

“We have set some simple conditions. Mr Holness made some irresponsible and damaging statements after the shooting at the JLP rally last week Sunday night, so a one paragraph retraction and an apology [in] one paragraph [can be done] in five minutes,” he said.

Burke claimed that the party did not have an issue with the Holness’ construction of the house, pointing out that as a public figure the Opposition leader has a duty to be accountable to the people of Jamaica.

The PNP general secretary said he hopes that the Opposition leader will address the issues at his next press conference.

The format of the debate has also been an issue for the PNP, which had requested that the 90-minute leadership face-off, which the Jamaica Debates Commission had proposed for February 20, be done in the town hall format used for the Democratic Party presidential candidates in the United States, instead of the format that was used in 2011 when both sides would field questions about social issues and the economy from the media.

Burke, yesterday, said that the PNP is now willing to accept the format that was proposed by the debates commission.

“We are not going to fight about it. It will not be an issue; we still think it (US format) is a better format, but we still will go ahead with it,” he said.