Jamaican leader calls for move to republic

THE Jamaican prime minister has called for creating a republican form of government and dropping Queen Elizabeth as the country’s head of state.

"I love the Queen dearly but the time has come when we must have a head of state chosen by us, representative of us and immediately accountable to us," Prime Minister PJ Patterson told supporters at the close of his People's National Party's annual conference.

Mr Patterson said he hopes to enact the change before the 2007 general elections, when he plans to step down as prime minister. Such a move would require amending Jamaica's constitution.

Jamaica's main opposition party prefers retaining the prime minister as chief policy-maker while appointing a largely ceremonial president similar to the governor general.

Mr Patterson's party favours an executive president elected by the people, but he said he's willing to accept the opposition's position in order to "fulfil the national desire".

He said: "The majority of people in Jamaica are ready to consign to history the last vestiges of colonialism."

Representatives of the opposition Jamaica Labour Party were unavailable for comment.