KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 10 — Seen as relatively influential newcomers to the Sabah political arena, Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS) today announced it would be competing in 70 out of the 73 state seats up for grabs at the upcoming elections.

PCS president Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, after revealing the 70 candidates, said the party is out to secure victories in all the seats contested to ultimately form a Sabah state government run by Sabahans.

"Who doesn’t want to have a 100 per cent win; every seat that we contest in, we want to win.

"We want to win because we want to rule the state of Sabah,” he said.

Anifah, who himself will be contesting the N30-Bongawan state seat, however declined to comment as to why his party is not contesting the three remaining seats.

"There is a very good reason, but I don’t want to reveal the reason now” was his response when queried on the three remaining seats.

Anifah also denied that by contesting almost all the seats, PCS are out to sideline the federal government under Perikatan Nasional, reiterating that his aim is to have Sabahans running their own state.

"For Sabah, let it be ruled by Sabah and for the federal government, of course, we will work together.

"I don’t think there is a problem about leaving us to decide our destiny, it’s not confrontational.

"We want to rule our own state and it doesn’t mean we are against the federal government,” he said.

Mathematically, PCS can govern the state assembly if it emerges victorious in all the seats being contested, or at least manages to have 37 winning candidates.

The Election Commission has announced September 12 as Nomination Day and September 26 as Polling Day for the Sabah state election.