28 hot seats to watch in Sarawak

Out of 71 seats up for grabs in Sarawak this Saturday, BN is expected to have 43 seats in the bag, while 28 seats are hotly contested with Pakatan Rakyat leading in 19 seats while another nine seats still too close to call.

This is based on inside information from Umno, the key party in the BN campaign machinery.

Pakatan needs at least 24 seats to deny BN from its much-coveted two-thirds majority in the state assembly.

Out of the 19 BN 'black' seats, 16 are contested by SUPP - five in Kuching, four in Sibu, three in Miri, two seats in Sarikei, and one each in Sri Aman and Bintulu.

It is predicted that SUPP will lose all the 13 seats it is contesting against DAP - Padungan, Pending, Kota Sentosa, Batu Kawah(all in Kuching), Repok, Meradong (both in Sarikei), Bukit Assek,Dudong, Bawang Assan, Pelawan (all in Sibu), Kidurong(Bintulu), Piasau and Pujut (both in Miri).

While PKR is expected to pick up five seats. Among them are two Chinese-majority seats - Batu Lintang (Kuching) and Senadin (Miri). The other three are Engkelili, an Iban-majority seat, while Lingga and Saribas are Malay-majority seats.

In total, DAP is expected to win 13 seats, PKR, five seats, while PAS may make a major breakthrough by winning its first Sarawak seat - Beting Maro.

It is not expected that Snap will win any of its 27 seats it is contesting.

SUPP faces wipe-out, may lost 18 out of 19 seats

With one day to go before polling, there are nine 'grey' seats which are still too close to call.

Simanggang and Bengoh are both contested by SUPP, and they may go to DAP and PKR respectively.

If that is the case, SUPP may face a similar fate suffered by Gerakan in Penang.

It could lose 18 out of the 19 seats contested, leaving the party with one seat, the Bidayuh-majority Opar.

All party heavyweights, including SUPP boss Dr George Chan and Sibu chief Wong Soon Koh, may be put out to pasture.

Meanwhile, PBB may lose three seats (Tarat, Nangka and Bukit Kota), while other BN components SPDP may lost three seats (Ba'Kelalan, Tasik Biru and Batu Danu) and PRS may lose one (Belaga). - Malaysiakini