By Nancy Lai

DAP wants to contest 20 state, eight parliament seats

KOTA KINABALU: DAP Sabah wants to contest more seats in the coming state and general elections.

State chairman Stephen Wong told reporters yesterday that DAP Sabah had identified 20 state and eight parliamentary seats it wants to contest in.

In the 13th general election DAP Sabah contested in eight state and four parliamentary seats. It won four state and two parliamentary seats, namely Likas, Luyang, Sri Tanjong, Kapayan, Sandakan and Kota Kinabalu.

Wong said that DAP Sabah hoped to finalize the Pakatan Harapan Sabah seats negotiation by end of July, seeing that the 14th general election was not too far away.

To this end, DAP Sabah has formed its seats negotiation team comprising Wong himself, DAP Sabah secretary Chan Foong Hin, Wanita chief Jannie Lasimbang and vice chairmen Frankie Poon Ming Fung and Peter Saili.

The negotiations would be based on general guidelines such as incumbent seats would belong to the respective parties and the seats contested in the 13th general election would be prioritized for the respective parties unless seat(s) swapping is suggested.

When asked when he thinks the election will be held, the Sandakan member of parliament is of the opinion that it will be called next year.

“But whether it is this year or next year, we have to get ready and get our machinery moving. That is why we need to get the seats allocation finalised. Once it is finalised, it will be easier to carry out negotiations, if there is any, with other opposition parties who are not in Pakatan Harapan Sabah,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, Chan explained, “once the seats are allocated, it would be up to the respective parties the seats are given to, to negotiate with local based opposition parties who may also want to contest in those areas.

“At the moment, it is difficult to have discussions with local based parties on seats they are interested in as we do not know who will be contesting where. So let’s say PCS or Pakar is interested in a seat that is allocated to DAP Sabah, they will negotiate with us and not with Pakatan Harapan,” he said.

“We hope to finalise things after the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration. We do not want to delay it for too long and many among our grassroots already feel quite restless. When I meet them they will ask me if the seats allocation has been settled. So I think it is high time that we do it,” he stressed.

Wong, however, added that the final decision on seats allocation would be made by Pakatan Harapan Sabah leaders when they meet next and at the moment, 80 per cent of their request is agreeable to the coalition.

He said DAP Sabah’s door was still open to other opposition parties that have a similar objective to have a total regime change both at the Federal and State level.

Chan added, “We welcome state based opposition parties to work together with us. We never say that we do not want to work with state based opposition parties.”