No decision yet on seats to be contested in Sabah polls, says a state PKR leader

KOTA KINABALU: PKR has yet to decide on the number of seats it wishes to contest in the next Sabah election, which is due in September next year, says a party leader.

Sazalye Donol, a member of the Sabah PKR Leadership Council, said the 25 seats mentioned by state chairman Datuk Sangkar Rasam was merely the latter’s own view.

“We have yet to discuss with Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) on the seat distribution.

“However, it is not wrong for any party to state the number of areas it wants to contest because the more seats we have, the better,” he told a press conference on Wednesday (Feb 21).

Sazalye said a decision on the seat distribution would only be made after talks between PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and GRS chairman Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.

It was reported that Sangkar had on Tuesday (Feb 20) said PKR wanted to contest in 25 of the total 73 state seats in Sabah and said this was decided following in a series of meetings during a statewide tour of Sabah PKR recently.

He said the decision would be presented to Anwar for further discussion at the Pakatan Harapan coalition level.

Pakatan was part of the state government led by GRS, which comprises seven local parties – Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (Gagasan Rakyat), Sabah STAR, Parti Bersatu Sabah, Sabah Progressive Party, Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah, Liberal Democratic Party and the United Sabah National Organisation.

Upko, a Sabah-based component of Pakatan, had previously been involved in a tiff with Gagasan Rakyat – a GRS anchor party – over the seat-sharing formula ahead of the 17th Sabah polls.

Asked if Sabah PKR supported Sangkar’s leadership, Sazalye, who is the Kota Marudu division chief, gave a positive answer.

“It may seem that there is always controversy within the party but this is democracy where everyone in PKR can speak freely.

“It could be seen some were at odds with each other but there is no split to the extent of harming the party,” he added.