Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi says it would be premature to finalise the distribution of seats between Sabah BN and Pakatan Harapan (PH) for the state election.
Zahid, who is also Umno president, said thorough discussions on the matter would be held at a later point.
“It is too early to make a decision (on the distribution of seats). We will hold more detailed discussions about the distribution of state seats later on,” he said on the sidelines of Franchise International Malaysia 2025 here.
Sabah PH chief Ewon Benedick, the entrepreneur development and cooperatives minister, was also with Zahid.
This comes a week after Sabah Umno information chief Suhaimi Nasir said Sabah BN was firm in its plan to contest 40 of the 73 state seats up for grabs, with the remaining allocated to PH and other potential allies.
Sabah PKR information chief Razeef Rakimin had accused Suhaimi of lying about engaging in seat talks, saying unofficial meetings had been held but there were no discussions on seat allocations.
BN and ruling state coalition Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) are both courting PH for a pact for the state polls. GRS and PH are currently allies in the state government while BN sits in the opposition in the state assembly.
PH has said that it will hold internal discussions before talking with other parties about an election pact.
Zahid reiterated that BN’s door was “wide open” to working with any political entity for the Sabah state election, including chief minister Hajiji Noor’s GRS.
He quipped that BN’s political alliances for the Sabah polls would be “BN-PH plus, plus, plus”.
“We have already decided that our cooperation with PH must be strengthened in Sabah. Therefore, it’s up to the Sabah BN leadership, with the central leadership’s guidance, to determine the best pact for the state polls.”
