Anthony Hylton wants to retain his post of People’s National Party (PNP) deputy chairman when the organisation’s National Executive Council meets after annual conference this September.

However, he also intends to take another step up the political ladder next March when Chairman Robert Pickersgill is expected to step down on the 25th anniversary of his appointment.

“When a vacancy arises I will offer myself,” Hylton told the Jamaica Observer last week.

Hylton, who has been deputy chairman since 2008, will likely face a challenge from Fitz Jackson, the Member of Parliament for St Catherine Southern, who has said he is interested in the job.

Both men have, however, made it clear that if Pickersgill has a change of heart, they will not mount a challenge.

In the meantime, Hylton, who represents St Andrew Western in the lower house Parliament, has signalled that if he’s elected chairman he will drive the process of the party applying its philosophy and ideology in the context, circumstances and conditions of the current times.

The former foreign affairs minister and current spokesman on industry, investment and commerce said that while it is accepted that all politics is local, the PNP has, historically, assumed leadership roles in international affairs that have resulted in it having substantial influence on philosophical, policy and programmatic matters that have yielded benefits to it and the Jamaican people.

“Acting within the progressive movement globally, the party must re-engage with fraternal parties in the region and globally, including with Cuba, China, United Kingdom, Russia, Europe, Africa, Latin America, Canada, and the United States of America,” Hylton said.

He also pointed to the importance of political education being placed on the party’s main agenda as a priority item, and advanced the view that the PNP needed to “embrace and incorporate modern, scientific, technological and communication methods to pursue its work”.