BAGAN DATUK: Barisan Nasional chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has accused Perikatan Nasional of attempting to disrupt the electoral pact between BN and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS).
This comes after PN fielded Bersatu vice-president Ronald Kiandee for the Beluran seat, despite GRS agreeing to allow BN to contest in the parliamentary constituency.
“(PN) fielded a candidate in a BN seat, despite the agreement between BN and GRS. They are trying to spoil the pact by fielding a PN candidate there,” he said at a press conference.
Sabah Bersatu is a component party of GRS, the coalition that is governing the Sabah state government with BN. Bersatu is also a component of PN.
A source had told FMT that GRS leaders were apparently irked by PN’s decision to allow Kiandee to defend his Beluran seat on the coalition’s ticket as it complicated the coalition’s electoral pact with Sabah BN.
Under the electoral pact, GRS agreed that BN should contest Beluran as it had won the seat in 2018. The seat changed hands after Kiandee defected to Bersatu in late 2018.
Zahid also trained his guns on Pejuang chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad over claims that the Umno president and Pakatan Harapan chairman had held secret talks about forming the government after the general election (GE15).
In denying Mahathir’s allegation, he labelled the former prime minister as being the “father of diverting issues”.
“He thinks he’s always right. But he can’t assume that he’s as popular as he was when he was prime minister.”
He maintained that BN’s approach to forming the government was to ensure political stability in the country. He added that the coalition needed to work with Gabungan Parti Sarawak and GRS, which govern the state governments in Sarawak and Sabah.
The former Bagan Datuk MP added that the formation of the government depended on how many seats BN wins at the polls
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