KOTA KINABALU: Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has hinted that the coalition and Pakatan Harapan (PH) would work with a “third force” in the coming Sabah state election.
However, Zahid, who is Umno president, did not reveal the coalition or party he referred to as the “third force”.
He said BN would announce which seats it would contest once seat negotiations with PH were completed.
“What is certain is that we will not contest all 73 seats in the upcoming Sabah state election (PRN17), but there are seats we are considering where we will field candidates based on winnability.
“I will announce the number of seats we finalise, but what matters is that these seats are those with high chances of winning,” he told the media after launching the Sabah BN Volunteer Squad here today.
Zahid, who is also deputy prime minister, said what was certain was that BN would contest more than the 14 seats it won in the 2020 state election.
The remainder of the seats would be contested by PH and a “third force”, he said.
For the record, BN won 14 seats in the last state election but lost six to defections.
“We believe we stand a chance in most of the new seats (BN wants to contest).”
Sabah BN has ruled out cooperation with the ruling Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS).
Yesterday, Sabah Umno chief Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin said cooperation between BN and GRS was immpossible as the coaliton was only offereed eight seats by GRS.
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