From the BBC News:
“The Caribbean island of Jamaica is to have a female prime minister for the first time. Portia Simpson Miller, 60, was elected president of the governing People’s National Party in an internal vote. She will automatically become prime minister when the incumbent, PJ Patterson, steps down in the next few weeks after 14 years in the post. Mrs Simpson Miller, currently local government minister, narrowly beat the national security minister to the job. …
“She is seen as someone who has really risen through the ranks of the party, coming from a very, very poor section of Jamaica… to the top post,” Radio Jamaica’s Kathy Barrett told the BBC.
“She’s a woman who’s very determined, a firebrand type of politician who has really hit home when it comes to the majority of people – especially women, the poor and the unemployed.”
“Mrs Simpson Miller is expected to have taken over from Mr Patterson, Jamaica’s longest-serving prime minister, by April.” …
