Kota Kinabalu: Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (Gagasan Rakyat) will take the lead in seat distribution talks with its coalition partners ahead of the general election, with winnability as the main criteria for candidates.
“We will discuss with them (coalition parties) the distribution of seats to be contested, but so far we have not negotiated with them,” said Gagasan Rakyat President Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor after chairing the party’s supreme council meeting at the Sabah International Convention Centre, on Saturday.
“We hope our friends in the government parties will be rational. We will place candidates who can win in the coming election. That is our criteria,” he said.
He said Gagasan Rakyat remained the party leading the State Government and that cooperation with its coalition partners was not a new arrangement but a continuation of what was already in place.
“The State Government today comprises Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and within GRS there are several parties, together with Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional. They are already part of the government. So, the cooperation will continue with the parties that are part of the State Government today,” he said.
On the general election preparations, Hajiji said the polls should be held once the current term reaches its end by next year.
“As the party leading the State Government, we must be ready from now on to mobilise the party at every level by going to the ground to prepare for the general election even though we do not know when it will be held,” he said, adding that the party would continue working the ground to strengthen its machinery.
On Parti KDM’s recent withdrawal of support, Hajiji stressed that the non-Sabahan party was not a member of GRS.
“Parti KDM is not a GRS member. So, the question of it withdrawing support does not arise. That is their own matter.
“What is important here is that they have one elected representative. This representative, from Paginatan, has expressed support for the State Government. His party may be Parti KDM, but what matters is the support in the State Assembly,” he said.
The GRS coalition comprises Gagasan Rakyat, PBS, Upko, Parti Cinta Sabah, LDP and Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah.