BN, PN seat allocation for Sabah election almost done, says Annuar Musa

LABUAN, Sept 4 ― The seat allocation among Barisan Nasional (BN), Perikatan Nasional (PN) and their allies for the upcoming Sabah state election has been 95 per cent finalised and an announcement will be made on Tuesday, said BN secretary-general Tan Sri Annuar Musa.

Annuar said BN, PN and their allies have reached consensus on the seat allocation and the use of logos for the snap polls.

“Being in the opposition side in Sabah, we in BN and PN have agreed to work together to allow only one-on-one fight against Parti Warisan Sabah to give the people an alternative for a better Sabah,” said Annuar, who is also the Sabah election chief coordinator for BN.

Speaking to reporters at the end of his two-day working visit to Labuan last night, Annuar said the  opposition front would ensure that its candidates would not contest against each other and party members would support the candidates nominated.

PN in Sabah comprises Bersatu, PAS, Sabah STAR and Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) while BN has Sabah Umno, MCA, MIC and Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS). Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) is their ally.

Annuar, who is Federal Territories Minister, said each political party especially from PN is allowed to use their respective party logo in the election, except BN component parties which would use the BN logo.

“It is up to the political parties to use their respective party logo as different constituencies have different behaviour (sentiment) of voting … they have to do their own assessment … as far as we are concerned, parties in BN will use the ‘dacing’ logo, but we can also allow other parties who are friends of BN to contest under the BN logo.

“But we were made to understand that the newly-registered Perikatan Nasional has its own  logo and that will be used by Bersatu and one or two political parties which are friends of PN. We are perfectly fine and we agree with it but, most importantly, we share one common manifesto, and we will support each other,” he said.

On talk that three factions (under Tan Sri Musa Aman, Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin and Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan) exist in Sabah Umno, Annuar said it is quite a normal scenario for leaders within a political party to have different opinions.

He said the differences have been visited, and there should not be any more problem; our focus now is on negotiations with the other political parties so that we have a fair distribution of seats.

“When we work as a team, there must be give and take. Nevertheless, we have more or less figured out the general guidelines in terms of the number of seats for BN, Bersatu, PBS and PBRS, and this should be ready within these few days.

“The BN and friends of PN we named as the United Opposition Front are eager for the election,” he said.

 Annuar noted that Sabah is a unique state when it comes to elections as the political parties must understand the pulse of the people, with poverty still an issue. ― Bernama