1. Portia Lucretia Simpson-Miller was born on 12 December 1945 and is a Jamaican politician who served as Prime Minister of Jamaica from 2006 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2016.
22 Facts About Portia Simpson-Miller
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Portia Simpson-Miller was leader of the People's National Party from 2005 to 2017 and Leader of the Opposition from 2007 to 2012 and from 2016 to 2017.
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Portia Simpson-Miller has served as Minister of Labour, Social Security and Sport, Minister of Tourism and Sports and Minister of Local Government throughout her political career.
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Portia Simpson-Miller was ranked by Time as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012.
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Portia Simpson-Miller later said her father named her after Portia from William Shakespeare's play, The Merchant of Venice.
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Portia Simpson-Miller attended Marlie Hill Primary School, which was destroyed by Hurricane Charlie in 1951 and relocated to the nearby community of Bellfield.
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Portia Simpson-Miller attended St Catherine High School before the family moved to Gem Road, Kingston.
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Portia Simpson-Miller was first elected to the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation in the 1974 local government elections, representing Trench Town West as a People's National Party councillor.
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Portia Simpson-Miller was elected in 1976 to the Parliament of Jamaica, to represent the constituency of South West St Andrew Parish, as a member of the People's National Party.
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Portia Simpson-Miller was re-elected to the same seat in a later election, and served as Minister of Labour, Welfare and Sports from 1989 to 1993.
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Portia Simpson-Miller was Minister of Labour and Welfare from 1993 to 1995, Minister of Labour, Social Security and Sports from 1995 to February 2000, Minister of Tourism and Sports from February 2000 to October 2002, and Minister of Local Government and Sport since October 2002.
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Portia Simpson-Miller served as Vice President of the PNP from 1978 to 2006, when she became its president.
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In July 2008, Portia Simpson-Miller was challenged for the presidency of the PNP by Phillips.
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Portia Simpson-Miller was re-elected as the head of the PNP for her second consecutive year, defeating him by an even wider margin than that of the previous election.
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Portia Simpson-Miller replaced Patterson as prime minister on 30 March 2006, becoming the first female head of government of the nation and the third in the Anglophone Caribbean, following Eugenia Charles of Dominica and Janet Jagan of Guyana.
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Portia Simpson-Miller initially refused to concede defeat, alleging voting irregularities and the possibility that recounts would change the final result.
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However, as Portia Simpson-Miller campaigned in key constituencies, the gap widened to favour the PNP.
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Days before the election, Portia Simpson-Miller came out fully in favour of LGBT rights in a televised debate, sparking an eleventh-hour controversy ahead of the vote.
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Portia Simpson-Miller was replaced by Peter Phillips, the Shadow Minister of Finance and former rival, on 26 March 2017.
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Portia Simpson-Miller stepped down as an MP in June 2017.
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Portia Simpson-Miller has reportedly pledged to transform Jamaica into a republic as part of the 50th anniversary of the island's independence.
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Portia Simpson-Miller is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, an international network of current and former female presidents and prime ministers.