PKR to contest 7 seats in Sabah state election

(MMO) – Sabah PKR have today named their candidates for the seven seats that were allocated to the party for the state election, as part of their commitment to the Warisan Plus coalition.

In a Facebook Live broadcast today, PKR information chief Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin and the party’s Sabah chief Datuk Christina Liew handed over the letter of appointments to the candidates.

Liew will lead PKR in defending the Api Api state seat for the coming state election.

The six others who will be fielded are: Mustapha Sakmud (Tempasuk), Sazalye Donol Abdullah (Matunggong), Peto Galim (Inanam), Abdul Rahman (Klias), Raymond Ahuar (Sook) and Alijus Sipil (Tamparuli).

All seven candidates were also required to sign an RM10 million bond.

The amount is for the PKR elected representative to pay the party if they defected and appropriated their seat for personal benefit or use it against the interests of the party.

Liew, who is also the caretaker deputy chief minister, said the appointment letters were from the PKR headquarters where the selection of candidates was made by going through three phases concerning selection, negotiation, and winning.

“The first phase is for us to discuss among ourselves on the selection of the candidates, while the second is discussing with our coalition partners in the various component parties.

“The third phase, where we are now in, is to focus on winning (the state election),” said Liew, adding that the next step will see the state PKR will plan their strategies on winning.

Liew hopes that the candidates will work hard on their respective areas in an effort to win in the coming state election.

“You (the candidates) starting today must work hard on the ground and don’t give up easily,” she said.

Meanwhile, Shamsul Iskandar said Sabah PKR is considered the second largest party base nationally after Selangor and the state election was quite significant for the party.

He said their focus was to return the people’s mandate.

Yesterday, PKR Sabah confirmed the party would only be contesting in seven out of the 73 state seats available, despite announcing their intention to field 14 candidates the day before.

The party was alleged to have been stuck in a standoff over seat negotiations with Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, who announced the Warisan Plus candidates yesterday morning.

Of the 73 candidates under Warisan Plus, 46 are from Shafie’s Warisan, 12 from Upko, seven each from PKR and DAP, and Amanah with one.

The premature state election was triggered after Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, currently the caretaker chief minister moved to dissolve the state assembly to frustrate former chief minister Tan Sri Musa Aman’s takeover bid.

The Election Commission (EC) has set nominations for Saturday and polling for September 26.