Bung Moktar: BN to announce Sabah polls candidates on Wednesday

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 — Perikatan Nasional (PN), with Barisan Nasional (BN) at its helm, will announce the names of its candidates contesting in the upcoming Sabah state election this Wednesday.

The matter was confirmed by Sabah Umno chief Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin, according to Utusan Malaysia.

Bung was also quoted saying that BN was prepared to introduce young and new candidates in the upcoming state polls to ensure its victory.

In a separate report by Berita Harian, sources from both BN and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) said the parties have reached a consensus for the former to contest 30 seats while the latter gets to contest 20 seats.

The sources also said the seat allocations was the amount decided thus far while the remaining unassigned seats were still under negotiations.

The state assembly has 73 seats presently as compared to 60 during the 14th General Election in May 2018. 

The source from BN also said a majority of the seats they would contest were those previously won during GE14.

“BN will defend the seats they won during the previous election. Just that some of the seats that were won are released to Bersatu,” the source said.

According to the report, negotiations for the unallocated seats also involved other parties sure as Parti Bersatu Sabah, Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah, Parti Maju Sabah and Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku.

On possible clashes with their allies should negotiations fail for the remaining seats, the source did not dismiss such possibilities but stressed that it would only involve a very small number of them.

The state election is being held because Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal sought the dissolution of the state assembly after predecessor Tan Sri Musa Aman mounted an attempted takeover of the state government via defections.

The Election Commission has set September 12 for nominations to allow for two weeks of campaigning before polling on September 26.