KOTA KINABALU, Feb 15 — Umno has set a target of contesting at least 14 of the total 25 parliamentary seats in Sabah in the 15th General Election (GE15).

Sabah Umno Liaison Committee chairman Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin said in this regard, the party’s Election Affairs unit (Juara) would conduct a study to determine suitable seats to be contested, by taking into account several factors including the people’s support in each constituency.

"Sabah Umno expects that the seats to be contested by Barisan Nasional (BN) will be not less than the number of seats it contested in the 14th General Election (GE14).

"We want to win the GE15 to form a government, therefore, each seat, geopolitics, voters’ needs and locality need to be studied,” he said in a statement here today.

In GE14, Umno contested 14 parliamentary seats in Sabah. However, Umno now has only two MPs namely Bung Moktar (Kinabatangan) and Datuk Mohamad Alamin (Kimanis).

Bung Moktar said early negotiations over seat allocations between BN and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) should be carried out in a transparent manner based on the strength of the respective parties.

He also reminded state ministers and assistant ministers to be more proactive in going to the ground to address the plight of the people during the Covid-19 pandemic and the movement control order period.

"I hope all Umno elected representatives will maintain their momentum and continue to work for the people and not just be seen working only during election time,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Lamag assemblyman said Sabah Umno would hold its 30th anniversary celebrations this Saturday (February 20) at the Umno Building here. — Bernama