With expectations heightening that Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller will call general elections for July, the major political parties yesterday indicated that they were raring to go.

Both the ruling People’s National Party (PNP) and the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) said they would field the full slate of 60 candidates, while the National Democratic Movement (NDM) planned to field nine candidates, but said the number could rise to 15 by Nomination Day.

“The People’s National Party is ready for an election at this time and we have so advised the party leader and, in her capacity as prime minister, she will exercise her election options in the interest of the country,” PNP general-secretary Donald Buchanan told the Sunday Observer.

Chairman of the JLP, Dr Ken Baugh, also indicating that his party was chomping at the bit, said: “The party has been ready for the general elections and the parish council elections for several months now. Our state of preparedness is the best it has ever been.”

The NDM’s Earl deLisser said: “We know that there are persons out there who deserve a choice and whatever sacrifice we have to make we will make it and give them that choice.”

Sunday Observer sources inside the PNP said all systems appeared to be on ‘go’ for a July election, and pointed to a meeting with all 60 candidates of the party which was convened yesterday at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston, as one of the clearest signs yet.

Buchanan confirmed that the meeting was called to go through “all aspects of our campaign procedures and the readiness of the party in each constituency”.

Buoyed by a surge in the public opinion polls, the ruling party appeared to have either resolved or shelved, for the time being, internal squabbles over candidate selection in at least three constituencies.

At Sunday Observer press time, Roger Clarke, the agriculture minister, seemed to have the comrades lining up behind him, after a spat with Paul Buchanan, the early claimant in the Central Westmoreland constituency vacated by Dr Karl Blythe.

In South-East St Elizabeth, Norman Horne’s dilemma appeared fixed, after Lenworth Blake agreed to drop all claims to the constituency and throw his support behind the former JLP senator.

The rumblings in the prized South-East St Ann constituency died down last week, following the big furore over the imposition of Lisa Hanna, the former Miss World, by Simpson Miller.

The internal quarrels which had divided the party were said to have been the reason Simpson Miller could not call the elections before now. But with that behind her, party insiders suggested that she would summon her troops to a mass meeting on or about July 4, the anniversary of the birth of PNP founder, National Hero Norman Washington Manley, to name the date.

That would give Simpson Miller enough time to call a July election, in keeping with sections 21 and 21A of the Representation of the People Act governing elections.

The Act states that the prime minister’s notice of elections must be published in the Gazette not more than seven days after it is announced.

The announcement will set a date for Nomination Day, which itself should not be more than seven days after publication of the notice in the Gazette. Nomination Day must be at least five clear days from the announcement of the elections. Finally, there must not be less than 16 days nor more than 23 days between Nomination Day and Election Day.

Political pundits further support the likelihood of a July election with the argument that the prime minister is unlikely to break the momentum by taking the election past the Independence holidays in early August.

But while Buchanan sounded confident about the readiness of the party, the PNP’s manifesto was only signed off yesterday and election advertising had not yet got off the ground.

“Our advertising campaign is just being prepared. We are covering our ground operations before we start our air coverage,” said party stalwart Colin Campbell.

According to Campbell, the PNP would be embarking on a parish to parish phase of campaigning this week. Campbell said rallies would be held in Bog Walk, St Catherine today and Lacovia in St Elizabeth on Thursday. There are more rallies planned for St Thomas, St James and South St Catherine next week.

But Campbell could shed no light on the cost of the PNP election campaign, which sources suggest could run into the high millions of dollars.

For its part, the JLP had completed its manifesto which party general-secretary Karl Samuda said would be presented to the voting public in short order.

Samuda said his party’s advertising campaign was well underway and that the services of a number of volunteers had been secured. He said the party would be embarking on a number of mass rallies to bring their message to the Jamaican people.

“We have been ready for months. The Jamaica Labour Party will never again be caught off guard,” Samuda told the Sunday Observer.

Samuda did not say how much the JLP campaign was projected to cost.

The NDM, while not in the league of the major parties, said it refused to roll over and play dead. President deLisser, despite his party being hampered by the denial of duty concessions on campaign vehicles, said the party had already identified nine candidates to contest the elections. He said his party was at a disadvantage after both major parties received concessions for more than 100 campaign vehicles.