THE PEOPLE'S National Party (PNP) candidate in the by-election for the West Portland seat could be in trouble with Political Ombudsman Bishop Herro Blair for utterances he made on a political platform in Portland on Wednesday night.

Kenneth Rowe, who will on March 23 do battle at the polls with the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) Daryl Vaz for a seat in Gordon House, announced three strategies to defeat his opponent.

Rowe reportedly charged that to be victorious over his rival (Vaz), he would "out-think him, outwork him and intimidate him".

Breach of code of conduct

These remarks have not gone unnoticed by the political ombudsman who told The Gleaner yesterday that the PNP's candidate's comments might be in breach of the Political Code of Conduct.

Blair said Rowe's approach to intimidate his opponent in an effort to outpace him in the by-election could be construed as victimisation.

The political referee said he would revisit the Code of Conduct to satisfy himself as to whether the candidate's remarks were in violation of the rules.

Blair said he would either write to Rowe or call him in to have discussion on the matter.

Asked if he would demand a retraction or apology from Rowe, the political ombudsman said: "I am not sure if (in) investigating the matter a retraction will be what is required if it goes to a tribunal, which will include the persons named by the leaders of the party. I would rather go there first and then act from there."

Yesterday, a release from the JLP stated that the party had sent letters to Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn, Commissioner of Police Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin and Blair about Rowe's controversial remarks.

The party contended that the PNP's West Portland candidate's statement infringed the Political Code of Conduct and the Represen-tation of the People Act.

Intimidated

"The party strongly believes that such statements should be prosecuted and would automatically disqualify Rowe as a candidate for office," the release said.

However, Julian Robinson, deputy general secretary of the PNP, said Rowe contextualised his comments, but this was not carried in the television sound bite.

He explained that the West Portland candidate said the JLP would feel intimidated if it saw a strong PNP presence.

"Outside of the context, clearly, it is a statement which is not something we, as a party, would support. We are committed to running a campaign which is clean and fair and we have no need to engage in a campaign that would be dirty," Robinson insisted.