Anwar Makes High Stakes Bid To Boost Pkr S Fortunes In Sabah

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SABAH POLLS | The Sabah polls are underway and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has thrown himself into the mix, personally leading the election machinery for his party, PKR, in the state.
While PKR is contesting just a dozen of the 73 seats and claims to have no intention of helming the state government, the stakes are high.
Historically, PKR has a shoddy track record of winning seats in Sabah.
In 2018, the peak of PKR’s electoral fortunes, the party won just one out of 10 state seats and two out of five parliamentary seats it contested in Sabah.
ADSIn the 2020 snap state election, it improved its performance slightly, winning two out of seven seats.
During the 2022 general election, the party won only a single seat out of the 10 parliamentary seats it contested.
Anwar’s decision to put his name to the campaign means that any failure to improve on PKR’s performance this Nov 29 will be a major embarrassment - and put into question his ability to win over the public and cobble together coalitions.
Anwar had already failed to get BN and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) to work together in the polls, with the two set to annihilate each other in 45 seats.
However, he still secured commitment from BN and GRS to support Pakatan Harapan separately.
In theory, this should contribute enough ballots for PKR to win multiple seats.
This, in turn, would put PKR and Harapan in a kingmaker position where they get a major say in who gets to form the next state government - likely aimed at forcing both BN and GRS to come together as they have done at the federal level.
However, the political reality is not that simple.
BN has fielded a candidate against PKR in Karamunting, PKR is challenging GRS in Moyog, and all three are clashing in Bandau.
While this will not likely impact post-election negotiations, it does hamper PKR’s chances of winning seats.
Further, Upko’s exit also chips away at Kadazandusun support for PKR. The former Harapan party is contesting against Anwar’s team in seven seats.
ADSNegative perception of PM
Anwar himself may prove a liability to the party.
A week before nomination day, Anwar had a debate with a voter, where the prime minister appeared to dismiss any differences between federal allocations to Sabah and the state’s entitlement to 40 percent of the federal revenue it collects.
A video of the exchange went viral, and the prime minister’s continued insistence that Putrajaya is giving Sabah more allocations than the revenue collected courted flak from state nationalists.
While Anwar has since clarified his position and stopped the Attorney-General’s Chambers from appealing a High Court decision affirming the 40 percent entitlement, the exchange will likely continue to be campaign fodder.
The prime minister’s continued support for GRS amid a corruption scandal that has implicated 14 politicians in taking bribes and other questionable conduct may also cost some votes.
While such issues have traditionally not been important for BN and GRS supporters - who are more concerned with bread and butter issues - combating graft is something that PKR and Harapan supporters care about.
Youth activists in the state have been mobilising and criticising Anwar over the scandal, although it is not clear how widespread such sentiments are among Sabah’s youth.
A July anti-graft demonstration in Kota Kinabalu, where youth protesters ended up burning an image of the prime ministerAnwar has shown no indication of budging on his position regarding the scandal, reiterating yesterday that the videos taken by businessperson Albert Tei implicating the politicians were not strong evidence.
Tei had submitted more than 300 pages of evidence to the MACC, including money trails, bank records, documents, and written correspondence as evidence to back up the claims in the videos.
Of the 14 Sabah politicians implicated in Tei's videos, only two have been charged with corruption - a fact that will also be fodder for PKR’s rivals at the polls. - Mkini

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