MEMBAKUT: Barisan Nasional (BN) intends to contest at least one state seat in each parliamentary constituency in Sabah during the 17th state election, said its Deputy Chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.
The Umno deputy president said the move is to ensure BN is represented in all 25 parliamentary constituencies in Sabah, which has a total of 73 state seats.
However, Mohamad, who is also Foreign Minister and Rembau MP, said the proposal has not been finalised and will be discussed further with the BN component parties, namely Umno, MCA, MIC and Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS).
“We do not want to see a recurrence of the situation in the last election, when some parliamentary constituencies lacked BN representation.
“This will lead to frustration and disillusionment among supporters, possibly causing them to leave the party,” he told reporters after launching the Kimanis Umno Division delegates meeting at Dewan Terbuka Membakut, here, Saturday.
The current five-year term of the 16th State Assembly will expire automatically on Nov 11, paving the way for the 17th State Election.
Meanwhile, Mohamad urged the people, particularly Umno members, not to be influenced by malicious allegations that the party had formed a coalition with DAP.
“BN, particularly Umno, has never merged with any party after the 15th General Election (GE15). Instead, BN only formed the current government with Pakatan Harapan (PH) based on an agreement with the coalition.
“Umno and BN agreed to form the Government because we needed to manage the country, as no party was able to form a government after GE15,” he said.
