KOTA KINABALU: The Kemabong seat in the Sabah interior is one of the most sought-after seats in the upcoming Sabah Election, with three major unity government coalitions vying to field candidates for the constituency located in Tenom.
Pakatan Harapan, Barisan Nasional and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) have all laid claim to the seat held by GRS’s Datuk Rubin Balang, who won the seat as an independent and later joined Gagasan Rakyat.
DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke said that the party would contest eight seats during the Nov 29 state election, including an interior seat, without giving specifics.
Earlier Saturday (Nov 8), DAP named seven candidates.
The party is eyeing another seat in the interior, but this is under negotiation with other party allies.
He said the party’s decision to contest the interior seat was based on their previous presence in the constituency.
“We have to respect our other coalition partners’ views, we are discussing,” he said.
Kemabong lies within the Tenom parliament seat, which was held by DAP’s Noorlita Saul for one term from 2018 to 2022.
Asked if an incumbent party had a right to contest a seat, Loke said this depended if the seat was won by the party or if the winning candidate had won on another’s party’s ticket but later switched parties.
“We have a track record in this interior seat,” he said, adding that DAP was not greedy and only targeting eight of 73 state seats.
He said there was still time before nomination day on Nov 15 to resolve the issue and dismissed the possibility of a friendly clash for the seat.
Pakatan will have to hold talks separately with GRS and Sabah Umno, who are both eyeing the seat.
Barisan and GRS will contest against each other in the election but both coalitions will not contest Pakatan candidates under electoral pacts.
When asked who DAP would support should Barisan and GRS clash, Loke said the party had limited resources and would strengthen their own campaigns for seats they are contesting.
