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KOTA KINABALU – Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s allied parties have openly clashed with their own allies over the 73 seats up for grabs in Sabah’s state elections, exposing internal rivalries just two days before the nominations.
They abandoned a joint candidate announcement event on Thursday (September 10) morning, instead calling it a leaders’ meeting amid a showdown of potential senior ministers should they win the September 26 vote.
Umno, who leads the Barisan Nasional (BN) pact, released a list of 31 names to the press, which left out his influential former Sabah boss, Musa Aman, and instead sent another former chief minister, Datuk Seri Salleh Said. Keruak.
But the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition of Tan Sri Muhyiddin led by his Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia revealed 29 candidates overnight, with three in theaters clashing with BN parties.
Sabah Bersatu boss Hajiji Noor said PN was not aware of the matches, as “I do not yet have the list of candidates from other parties.”
“But if it is true, we hope that one of the candidates, PN or BN, can withdraw. The day of the nomination is Saturday, so tomorrow we have time, we will try to solve it, “he told reporters.
Parti Bersatu Sabah also announced that it would contest 15 seats, with eight overlapping those claimed by other Muhyiddin allies, including three with Umno.
While the state election does not directly affect which coalition forms Malaysia’s federal government, it is an indicator of where the loyalties of the voters lie.
Sabah, an undecided state, is a potential kingmaker in general elections, as it is represented by 25 of the 222 lawmakers in Parliament, the third highest number of MPs after Sarawak and Johor.
Sabah Umno chief Bung Moktar Radin insisted that Tan Sri Musa, a rival for the position of chief minister favored by a faction within Bersatu, was not elected as he “never applied” for a seat.
Musa was Sabah’s prime minister for 15 years until the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition was toppled in 2018.
The discussions are just as tense on the rival field with overlapping claims only resolved Thursday night.
The so-called Warisan Plus pact under outgoing Prime Minister Shafie Apdal went ahead with the announcement of 66 candidates, ahead of the official nomination on Saturday for the Sabah elections on Thursday morning, but fewer than those that are supposed to. present Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).
This left seven districts for the party of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, which had insisted on Wednesday night to contest in 14 districts, six more than the number of seats it contested in 2018.
But Datuk Shafie told reporters that “we are quite prepared for the consequences that we are going to face.”
Although Sabah PKR’s head of youth information, Razeef Rakimin, warned of a “protest vote when they see Warisan behaving like a party that craves seats,” the state chapter ultimately agreed to the deal.
“The decision was confirmed and endorsed by the president of PKR and the general secretary (headquarters) of the party to support the decision of the local leaders in the best interest of Sabah,” said PKR head of state Christina Liew.
Warisan President Shafie and PKR counterpart Anwar are rivals at the federal level, with both men vying to be the opposition prime minister in the upcoming national elections, which are expected to take place early in the year. next year.
The Sabah state poll was launched after Musa lured defending assemblymen to his field, depriving the Shafie administration of a majority.
Musa hoped to lead the state government with assemblymen aligned with him without going to the polls. However, the state governor chose to dissolve the assembly and call elections.
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