Party to vie for all seats in GE14
PUTATAN: Parti Kebangsaan Sabah (PKS) plans to contest in all seats in the coming 14th general election (GE14).
Party president Thomas Anggan said his party would be contesting in all the 60 state and 26 parliamentary seats in Sabah.
He said initially the party planned to contest in 30 state seats only but decided to go for all the state seats based on the response from the people.
Thomas was met after officiating at the new PKS headquarters here, where he also presented appointment letters to 65 party divisional chiefs.
PKS is a multi-racial party and was formed in 2013. It currently has over 20,000 members across the state.
Thomas, who is a retired senior police officer, served as Bingkor assemblyman in 1985 under Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS).
He then left PBS in 1996 after having a dispute with PBS president Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan.
Thomas, 78, who comes from Kampung Sandapak, Keningau, said he would run for the Bingkor state seat, which is currently held by Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (Star) president Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan.
He said PKS candidates for the coming election had been identified, but he had not decided on a candidate to contest the Keningau parliamentary seat.
Currently, Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan of PBS holds the Keningau parliamentary seat after he won it during the 13th general election in a threecornered contest between his brother Jeffrey and a PKR candidate.
Thomas said PKS had the potential to win the seat regardless of Pairin contesting it or not.
He also said he would consider contesting for the seat if no suitable candidate was found.
Meanwhile, Thomas told reporters that PKS would not cooperate with other opposition parties in Sabah and would run on its own, but said PKS would consider collaborating with opposition parties which had the same mind to form the state government.
Optimistic on PKS’ chances in the polls, Thomas said his party had new faces, young and old.