KOTA KINABALU, Nov 30 — Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) chairman Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor emerged as the biggest winner of the 17th Sabah state election, riding on a strong wave of support for state-based parties while peninsula coalitions suffered a stinging setback across the state.

Results show GRS winning more than 29 seats, but partners PH fell below the mark losing all but one of the 20 seats they contested in.

They will form the government with the three assemblymen from United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation (Upko), which recently left Pakatan Harapan (PH) citing dissatisfaction with the national coalition, and five independent victors.

Local parties win, peninsula-based parties crumble

The night’s clearest trend was a decisive swing away from peninsula-based parties. DAP, in particular, saw its worst performance in state election history, losing all of the eight seats it contested — including its long-held Chinese-majority strongholds of Luyang, Likas and Kapayan.

PKR managed to win just one out of the 11 it contested while Amanah also failed completely.

A surprise loss was Sindumin’s Datuk Yamani Hafez Musa, the son of state governor Tun Musa Aman. However, his other son, Hazem Mubarak Musa, won the Sungai Manila seat.

Barisan Nasional (BN) fared slightly better but still recorded significant losses compared to previous cycles with six out of the 45 seats it contested.

Hajiji’s win in Sulaman was expected, but the broader sweep for GRS candidates — including key PBS, Usno and Gagasan Rakyat leaders — delivered him a strengthened personal mandate.

Even where GRS did not win directly, the independent candidates who left the party such as Fairuz Renddan in Pintasan and Datuk Maijol Mahap in Bandau, served as good hedged backups for the GRS-PH combo in case the fielded candidates did not win.

Urban swing for Warisan was not enough

Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal’s Parti Warisan came close to being the best negotiation force with 25 seats, but could not form a coalition soon enough.

Warisan rode on a Chinese wave, sweeping the urban seats away from DAP and PKR across the state.

The night was filled with much drama as several hot spots were undecided past midnight.

Some of the highlights were the historic win for PAS in the Karambunai seat. Formerly a nominated assemblyman, Datuk Aliakbar Gulasan is the first PAS member to break into Sabah after decades of contesting there.

Another surprise was the narrow loss of United Sabah National Organisation president Tan Sri Pandikar Amin to Fairuz for the second time and Tan Sri Anifah Aman in Bongawan to Warisan’s Dr Daud Yusof.

The Bahanda siblings Datuk Wetrom, Redonah and Verdon in Matunggong, Bandau and Tanjung Kapor, who were largely projected to win, also lost.

Warisan managed to pull out surprising wins not just in all the urban seats against favourites DAP, but also in Inanam against PKR incumbent Datuk Peto Galim and ex-GRS favourite, Datuk Dr Roland Chia.

The non-Muslim native (KDM) voice remained split across some 20 seats, with PBS winning six out of the 12 seats they contested, STAR won two – a fraction of the six seats it won in 2020 – and Upko won three, including Tamparuli from PBS.

The rest were spread across Warisan and KDM and even BN’s PBRS.

All in all, some 29 seats experienced swings, either in candidates or in party.