KUCHING: Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) is not likely to introduce new faces in the next state election, said its president Dato Sri William Mawan.
“Now is not the time for us to think on developing new potential candidates. Time is very short as the election is just around the corner. Even (Chief Minister and BN chairman Pehin Sri Abdul) Taib has mentioned about not accepting any defeated candidates for the upcoming election.
“Looking at SPDP’s two previous election records for Parliamentary and state, our candidates had 100 per cent victory. So, there are no defeated candidates here,” he highlighted.
Under the present Barisan Nasional seat allocation, SPDP is allocated eight out of the 71 state seats.
SPDP won all eight seats in the 2006 state election. Among the incumbents was Mawan, who is Pakan assemblyman and Minister of Social Development and Urbanisation.
Mawan then reminded that it would not be easy to predict if SPDP were to put up new candidates. However, he said it was still entirely up to the top BN leadership to make the final decision.
“As far as SPDP is concerned, I am still standing by my earlier stand (recommendation) for all the incumbents to be retained,” he highlighted.
Mawan also explained that if the party were to work on the potentials of new candidates (other options), it would not work out considering the limited time. The move would also confuse the people.
He stressed that supporters, who earlier or has always worked with the incumbent, might get frustrated and BN would not be sure how the voting pattern would turn out when election comes.
“Of course sometimes there are conflicting reports from the government, making it seemed unreliable. It could be due to so many conflicting parties trying to put up their own candidates. So you cannot just admire each other but then portray yourself as the better candidate, just to make the other person less formidable.
“If you see it from that angle, normally the incumbent would be the one that is untouchable.”