KOTA KINABALU: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sabah’s focus now is on winning the state election, its liaison chief Datuk Christina Liew said as she declined to go into the disagreements over the distribution of seats among the party’s allies yesterday.
She told reporters here that she would not be commenting further on the issue with the seats as winning the election is now the party’s priority.
“The issue of seat discussion is now in the third phase which is to focus on the candidates winning in their respective seats,” Christina said.
Speaking at a press conference after presenting the appointment letters to PKR Sabah’s candidates yesterday, Christina said that she would be meeting all the party’s state leaders to discuss what needs to be done to move forward.
“We are contesting to give the rakyat the opportunity to return the power to the government,” she said.
PKR Sabah will be fielding Mustapha Sakmud, who is its deputy president, in Tempasuk, Sazalye Donol Abdullah (Matunggong), Peto Galim (Inanam), Abdul Rahman Md Yakub (Klias), Raymond Ahuar (Sook), Alijus Sipil (Tamparuli) and Christina, who will be defending Api Api.
Meanwhile when asked about alleged interference in the seats allocation negotiations by the party’s central leaders, Christina said that Sabah leaders are in charge in matters pertaining to the state.
“Let me say this, there were three phases (of negotiations) and we always consult the party president, Secretary General and our senior leaders because we are a national party, so we have national and state policies.
“However when it comes to state interest they will refer back to us because we are in charge of Sabah,” she said adding that for now, politics will take a back seat as her priority is to ensure that PKR’s candidates will win in the election.