PEOPLE’S National Party President Dr Peter Phillips said Thursday night that the party is focusing its energy on 10 additional seats in the next general election, constitutionally due by 2021.

Phillips was speaking at the launch of his One PNP campaign at the Courtleigh Auditorium in New Kingston, ahead of the September 7 leadership challenge.

Phillips, who assumed leadership of the party two years ago, is seeking to thwart the challenge of Manchester Central Member of Parliament Peter Bunting.

“Our strategy is to hold the 29 seats that we have and go for at least an additional 10 seats. We are going to organise seat by seat, community by community, lane by lane, house by house, voter by voter to engage the citizens in the target seats to vote for the People’s National Party,” Phillips told the packed room.

He said the party has recruited a fine team of candidates with a mixture of youth, energy, competence, and experience required for victory.

He also noted that for the past two years, he has been leading the team on the road and on the ground, while listening to constituents.

Phillips said he has been in discussions with farmers, teachers, business people, community activists, nurses, doctors, workers, reasoning with them and hearing their issues so that their interests can be reflected in our new policy solutions.

The PNP president said in two years, he has ensured that more than 20 caretakers are on the ground in constituencies, headed the party’s ‘Listening Tour’ and ‘Duh Road programme’, added new blood to an already vibrant Senate, oversaw a new slate of vice-presidents, and appointed both a new treasurer and president of the party’s youth organisation.

The PNP leader said the party’s policy and education commissions have been revitalised and that its ‘Orange Army’ has been doing work in several communities.

He said the party now has six national organisers and four new chairpersons at the regional level of the party.

“This is how we build the foundation for victory. And them seh nothing nah gwaan… Over the last two years, I have led the charge, re-establishing partnerships so that the PNP can take its rightful place among the progressive parties on the global stage,” said Phillips.

“On the road to victory, we, in the PNP, have been developing a new policy framework to build a new and better Jamaica, a caring and successful Jamaica.

“Our ‘covenant consultations’ have facilitated the participation of Comrades islandwide in the development of this new policy framework,” he mentioned.

Phillips said the next PNP Government will implement programmes that are expected to expand opportunities for small business to give more Jamaicans a share of the growth; enable many more Jamaicans to own a piece of the rock and chart their own destiny; make sure all schools have the resources and support to provide quality education for all our children, no matter where they come from; integrate modern technology with the production of goods and services in an environmentally sustainable way so Jamaica can compete in the global market.

“I am focused on keeping the party united around this mission for a new Jamaica by building one PNP, powerful together,” he said.