Pn Unveils Its Candidates To Clash With Bn In At Least Three Seats

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SABAH POLLS | Perikatan Nasional (PN) this evening finally announced its candidates for the Sabah election, hours after it aborted the unveiling at a joint-event with BN this morning
Sabah Bersatu chairperson Hajiji Mohd Noor announced that PN will contest in 29 seats. It will clash with BN in at least three of the seats
They are Paginatan (Star vs Umno), Tulid (Star vs PBRS) and Sook (Star vs PBRS)
To a question, Hajiji agreed that one of the above-mentioned party should not contest in the overlapping claim seats
This is to ensure the opposition engage in a straight fight with Warisan and its allies
"We will look into it. The nomination is on Saturday, so we still have time tomorrow. We are trying to avoid clashes. We want to win, so it should not be (multi-cornered fight)," he said
There may be more overlaps as not all component parties who are part of the PN-led federal government have announced their candidates
They include MCA which is contesting under BN, PBS which is going solo, and PAS which was mulling to either contest under the BN or PN logo but did not appear at either announcement
Umno had gone ahead to reveal it will be contesting 31 state seats at the bungled joint-event this morning even though Bersatu pulled out at the last minute. PBRS announced this afternoon it will be contesting five seats
The parties that have confirmed they will be contesting under BN's logo instead of PN's are Umno, PBRS and MCA
Collectively, BN will be fielding its candidates in at least 36 seats, compared to PN's 29 and this could increase once MCA announces its picks later today
Hajiji Mohd NoorHajiji was coy about weighing into the clash, claiming that he had yet to get the list of candidates from non-PN parties even though they were already widely publicised in the media
"I can't comment as I don't have the candidate list from other parties yet," he told a press conference at the Sabah Bersatu headquarters in Kota Kinabalu
However, Hajiji concurred that if there were to be clashes, one of the parties should drop out to allow a direct fight against the Warisan-Pakatan Harapan-Upko alliance
Interestingly, the PN announcement today only saw the participation of three parties, namely Bersatu, Star and SAPP
SAPP is not part of the PN-led federal government but is being co-opted by PN in Sabah, which could lead to clashes with BN's MCA as both parties will focus on constituencies with a substantial Chinese population
Bersatu will be contesting 19 seats, Star will compete for eight while SAPP will field candidates for two seats
Another notable development was the absence of PAS at PN's announcement. It was also absent from BN-Umno's announcement this morning
Overall, only two parties in the ruling federal government will contest under the PN logo - Bersatu and Star
Umno, MCA, PBRS, PAS and PBS are also part of the PN-led federal government but won't be using the PN logo in Sabah
"We have already announced all Bersatu candidates, so the issue on whether to (field him as) Bersatu candidate does not arise," added Masidi
Musa was dropped as Umno's candidate for the Sabah polls
Umno will contest 31 seats out of 73 seats in the upcoming state polls

- Mkini

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