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KOTA KINABALU: Negotiations on the seats between Pakatan Harapan, Warisan and Upko will end soon, says PKR Secretary General Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
Speaking to reporters, Saifuddin said that PKR President Anwar Ibrahim met with Warisan President Shafie Apdal, who is Sabah’s acting Prime Minister, today to discuss the allocation of seats.
“The meeting (with Shafie) was also attended by the head of PKR Sabah, Christina Liew, and myself. We are in the final stages of negotiations.
“Much progress has been made. We just have to fine-tune the negotiations because we have to take into account areas that involve Upko, DAP or Amanah, ”he said after attending the Sabah PKR information tour, which Anwar attended.
Sabah’s state elections will be held on September 26, and the nomination day will be set for September 12. A total of 73 seats will be contested, 13 more than in GE14.
Saifuddin said that while PKR would contest fewer seats, in principle they would defend the seats they won in the last elections.
“I don’t want to go into which seats Upko or the rest will compete in, but if there is an overlap, we can discuss it. However, if PKR won the seat, that seat will remain under PKR. “
He said they had also spoken with Shafie about seats that PKR believes is reasonable for them to compete based on their strength, including the 13 new state seats.
“If in the past we disputed eight of the 60 (seats) and now there are 13 more, it is reasonable that PKR has the opportunity, since in terms of membership, (Sabah) has the second highest (number of members) after Selangor , with 173,907 members ”.
Speaking at the roadshow, Anwar reminded his allies in Pakatan Harapan not to regard PKR as a small party in Sabah.
“PKR was the largest PH party in Parliament after the last general elections (GE14). Don’t forget that; don’t think we are a small party ”.
Anwar added that although PKR may not have performed well in Sabah at GE14, the party has been going strong since then.
In the last elections, PKR only won two of the eight state seats they contested, namely Api-Api and Inanam.
Currently, PKR only holds the Api-Api seat after its Inanam Assemblyman Kenny Chua defected to support former Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman in an attempt to overthrow the state government in July.
Since then, Chua has been fired by PKR.
