THE much anticipated announcement of a date for the hosting of the Special Delegates Conference to choose a successor to lead the People’s National Party (PNP) when Prime Minister PJ Patterson retires, did not materialise on Sunday.

But the closed-door sitting of the party’s National Executive Council (NEC) did examine and finalise the procedures for the return of nomination forms to select delegates, party officials told the Observer.

The conference must take place before the next budget debate in April next year, as indicated by Patterson.

Party officials said the meeting also focused on routine internal party/government matters. These included establishing ground rules to ensure fair hiring practices for flood reconstruction and other projects under the Lift Up Jamaica programme; and the taking of reports from party groups including the youth and women’s organisations as well as regional reports.

On Sunday, representatives from the leading camps did not seem unduly affected by the latest Observer/Stone poll results, which gave the Local Government Minister Portia Simpson Miller a commanding lead over the other three PNP contenders – Dr Peter Phillips, the security minister, back-bencher and PNP vice-president Dr Karl Blythe and finance minister Dr Omar Davies.

“We are happy with the polls but we don’t rely on them to set our work agenda,” said Team Portia campaign director, Easton Douglas.

He noted that the Simpson Miller team would be focusing on shoring up delegate support in order to ensure that their candidate won.

He added that Team Portia was confident of winning the party presidential race, and would do its utmost to rally the entire party behind Simpson Miller once that was accomplished.

At the same time, he said that if Simpson Miller did not win she was prepared to work with Patterson’s successor, but noted that it was equally critical for the other contenders to rally behind her.

“The issue is, would they be comfortable working with her based on some of the things that have been said?” noted Douglas. He was making reference to questions about Simpson Miller’s competence for the post, raised by members of Dr Phillips’ campaign team.

Meanwhile, senior figures in the Phillips camp also told the Observer that they were not perturbed by the latest poll findings.

“Simpson Miller is popular nationally but we are confident that we have the support of most delegates,” said Donavan Nelson, a Phillips supporter.

State minister for finance Fitz Jackson, who also supports Phillips, noted that the national security minister was expected to command more delegate support based partly on the greater support from elected representatives.

With an announcement of the selection date expected no later than the next two months, the succession race has taken a decisive turn towards the home stretch.

Both leading candidates have shown their hands in revealing where their main strength lies, with Simpson Miller’s strength lying in her immense national popularity, while Phillips enjoys a near ten-to-one backing of elected MPs’ support.