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KINABATANGAN: Sabah Barisan Nasional has expressed its willingness to reduce the number of parliamentary seats it will contest in the next general election so that more seats are available for other parties within the ruling Gabungan Rakyat Sabah.
Sabah BN President Bung Moktar Radin said the move was to ensure the victory of the current government, Bernama reported.
He said Sabah BN had allocated 14 seats for Umno to participate in the 2018 general elections, with 10 seats allocated to its Sabah partners PBS and Upko. “But (now) we are ready to negotiate, we want to win because it is not about how many seats will be contested, but about how many seats we will win,” he said.
He estimated that Umno would contest between 10 and 12 seats.
There are 25 parliamentary seats in Sabah. BN won 10, Warisan 8, PKR and DAP 3 each, and Sabah STAR 1.
Bung Moktar, who is also the President of Sabah Umno and MP for Kinabatangan, told reporters this after officiating the meeting of Umno delegates from the Kinabatangan division here.
He said the negotiation process will continue and BN will defend the GRS coalition formed with Perikatan Nasional and Parti Bersatu Sabah.
BN would also ensure victory for the candidates presented by the coalition, he said.
