Abang Johari (seated) gestures when speaking at the press conference today.
KUCHING: Sarawak Barisan Nasional (BN) has yet to finalise its list of candidates for the upcoming 14th General Election (GE14).
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said he has yet to even decide on his own party’s list of candidates.
Abang Johari, who is also Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) president, said he was still unsure of when election would be called.
“I don’t even know when election is going to be held.
“Until now, I haven’t even gotten the list of PBB candidates for the coming election,” he told reporters after chairing the state BN supreme council meeting at PBB headquarters here today.
The state BN chairman said there were also no discussion on seat allocation and BN’s candidacy during the meeting.
He said what they discussed at the meeting earlier was to prepare themselves for the upcoming election, where they have formed a committee chaired by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas and all deputy presidents of other BN component parties.
“Of course, we also prepare our manifesto and logistics,” he said.
Asked if PBB is going to field any new faces for upcoming election, Abang Johari said he would announced that later.
“As I have said, I don’t know when election will be held. You know, the press speculated that the Prime Minister will announce the full list of BN candidates on April 2, but this morning when I asked him, he said no,” he added.
Asked how Sarawak United People’s Party and United People’s Party, which signed a Memorandum of Understanding after the meeting, will resolve their candidacy issue, he said it would be decided later by both parties.
“It it is up to them. They will discuss about it later but I would like to stress that candidate is not the criteria of the MoU.
“The criteria are for them to get united, to work together in all form in order to develop our state and also to be powerful,” he said, adding that even if UPP has any candidate they would have to contest under SUPP ticket.