PUTRAJAYA, Feb 22 — Pakatan Harapan (PH) will be preparing for the Sarawak state election due next year in which it is the underdog.
PH chairman and Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the coalition’s presidential council had discussed the Sarawak polls in its meeting last night and will hold a convention to decide the candidates to field and ensure no overlaps that will compromise its chances of snatching the resource-rich state.
“In other matters, we also discussed about the election in Sarawak and to decide our candidates so that they will not contest against another component party.
“We will hold a convention, but the date has not been set,” Dr Mahathir from Bersatu, one of the four parties in PH, told reporters here.
Sarawak is currently ruled by native Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) coalition, anchored by Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), under the leadership of Chief Minister Datuk Abang Johari Openg.
GPS comprised native Sarawak parties which pulled out from the Barisan Nasional coalition following PH’s sweeping victory in most other states at the last general election in 2018.
The only PH parties to have made gains in the hornbill state in the last state election in 2016 are DAP and to a smaller extent, PKR as Amanah was still new and Bersatu — Dr Mahathir’s party — had not been found yet.
