Published on: Monday, April 07, 2003 |
PBS said on Sunday that it would request for additional seats to contest under the Barisan Nasional (BN) banner in the coming State election which must be held before March or April next year.
Its President Datuk Joseph Pairin Kitingan said he would bring up the matter for discussions among State BN component parties soon.
PBS is the second largest BN component party in Sabah and, therefore, it is logical for the party to ask and be given more seats to contest, he said while closing the PBS Lower Interior Zone Management and Leadership Camp at Borneo Paradise Beach Hotel in Kinarut.
It is our hope that we would be given additional seats to the 17 seats we won during the previous State election, he said.
He, however, pointed out that the outcome of the request would depend on the discussions.
We will definitely bring up the matterÖits logical, if a party gets general support from the people in a particular area (constituency), definitely it would want representation for that area during the election, he said.
PBS, which returned to the BN fold early last year, is currently the second largest BN component party in Sabah after Umno, with 13 assemblymen.
It won 17 seats in the 1999 State election but the following year two of its assemblymen joined Umno and another six joined Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS).
However, in April last year, five of them - Datuk Louis Rampas (Kiulu), Johnny Goh (Inanam), Karim Adam (Kundasang), Edward Linggu (Tamparuli) and Atong Mangabis (Matunggung) - rejoined the party.
Pairin also said the partys expectation is for its leaders to be included in the State Cabinet after the next State election.
We were not included in the Cabinet announced by Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman recently because when we rejoined the BN we did not impose any condition.
But we expect PBS to be included in the Cabinet after the State election that will probably be held in July or August this year, he said.
