KOTA KINABALU, Sept 10 — Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia in Sabah announced it was contesting 29 seats today with three of its seats clashing with its Perikatan Nasional (PN) alliance.
Its state chief Datuk Hajiji Mohd Noor said he was not aware that the Paginatan, Sook and Tulid state seats, which he announced the party’s intention to contest, were earlier claimed by Umno (Paginatan) and Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (Sook and Tulid) respectively.
“We hadn’t heard of that yet. But if it’s true, we hope that one of the candidates, either PN or Barisan Nasional, can withdraw because we want to win.
“I hope we can discuss and decide. Nomination Day is on Saturday, so we have time tomorrow. We will try to resolve it,” he said.
Hajiji said Bersatu would contest 29 seats, of which about 60 per cent of its candidates would be new faces.
Among the familiar names were Hajiji himself for Sulaman, Datuk Ghulam Haidar Khan for Kawang, Datuk Ariffin Arif for Membakut, Datuk Isnin Aliasnih for Klias, Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun for Karanaan and Datuk Limus Jury for Kuala Penyu.
The breakdown is about 19 seats to Bersatu, eight for Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (Star), and two for Sabah Progressive Party.
When asked whether negotiations with STAR had ended amicably, Hajiji said that it was clear from its president Datuk Jeffrey Kitingan’s presence at the press conference to announce its candidates.
“As you can see Dr Jeffrey is here, so we are together in PN,” he said.
Yesterday, Jeffrey had alluded that STAR was still not satisfied with the number of seats given to local parties, and insisted that it be given at least 15 seats or he would leave the coalition.
Hajiji also dismissed questions about the coalition’s candidate for chief minister, saying that its focus at the moment was to topple the Warisan government and win the election.
Earlier, Umno said it would be contesting 31 seats, STAR would contest eight seats while Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah would contest five.
In the PN-friendly alliance, the only ones who have yet to announce its seats is Parti Bersatu Sabah.
