The Jamaica Debates Commission (JDC) has written to the Peoples’ National Party, noting that in the absence of a response to its letter of February 11, it is no longer able to commit to organizing and staging the 1st in a series of political debates between the PNP and the JLP on Tuesday February 16.
The JDC had written the party asking it to re-consider its decision not to participate in three debates ahead of the 2016 General Elections. In its letter it indicated that if the first debate were to take place on Tuesday, the JDC needed three clear days in order to mobilize it teams to ensure the staging of a quality production and asked for a response by 5:00 p.m. today.
The JDC letter concluded:
“As we have not received a response as at the time of writing, we wish to advise that the JDC can no longer commit to organizing and staging the first debate on Tuesday, February 16.
“Nonetheless, the JDC remains open to staging the three debates beginning later in the week provided an agreement can be reached with the JLP to that effect. The same condition – three clear days before the live broadcast of the first debate – would remain in place. We should note that given the position of both political parties over the course of our negotiations that the last several days ahead of the election should be reserved for their closing campaign events, any decision to debate – if this were to prove necessary – between Sunday February 21 and Tuesday February 23, must be a mutual decision of both political parties…”