SABAH POLLS | Friendly fire erupted in the Warisan Plus camp even before the battle for Sabah, with PKR upset over the distribution of seats.
Sabah PKR Youth information chief Razeef Rakimin accused Warisan of betraying the alliance's consensus and warned that it could lead to protest votes.
“I wish to question, where is this so-called spirit of unity often mentioned by (Warisan president) Shafie (Apdal)?” asked Razeef (photo, above) in a statement this evening.
PKR yesterday declared it would contest in 14 seats - Matunggong, Pintasan, Tempasuk, Tamparuli, Inanam, Api-Api, Petagas, Limbahau, Membakut, Klias, Kemabong, Sook, Sungai Manila and Segama - using its own logo.
However, Shafie announced earlier today that PKR has only been allocated seven seats, which prompted a group of disgruntled party members to leave the hall.
Meanwhile, Razeef, on a sarcastic note, said DAP and Amanah were not given their due share of seats as well despite their “numerous sacrifices to capture Shafie's attention”.
“Among them was to reject the Pakatan Harapan prime minister candidate (Anwar Ibrahim) and support the candidate suggested by (Dr) Mahathir (Mohamad), which is Shafie.
“The latest is both DAP and Amanah willing to lower themselves to use Warisan's logo, setting aside their respective logos as well as the Pakatan Harapan logo although Upko is using its own logo out of principles and respect for the organisation,” he added.
In the end, Razeef said Amanah was given a single seat while DAP lost out on several potential seats such as Tulid.
Although the number of seats involved is small, Razeef said the distribution should be conducted in a fair manner.
“This is because people are watching. It is not impossible that the people and supporters of the parties in Warisan Plus would cast protest votes based on the perception that Warisan is greedy for seats,” he warned.
Prior to announcing Warisan Plus' 54 candidates, Shafie, in his speech, said he had told Anwar that the main objective is to win the Sept 26 elections and not the number of seats allocated.
“I told Anwar who came to my house... I said I gave many seats last time, but they only won two.
"This is not the season for us to give seats, this is the season for us to win the election. It is not a question of 'Oh our party will be looked down on if we have a smaller number (of seats)'.
"It is not a party's dignity that is our priority. It is the dignity that we want to win the election that is more important," he added.
Things are far from smooth on the opposite side of the political divide as well with Perikatan Nasional component parties clashing with each other in a few constituencies.
Umno, PBRS and MCA have refused to use the PN logo and would be contesting under the BN logo instead.
Meanwhile, Bersatu and Star would contest under the PN logo and have also co-opted SAPP, which is not part of the PN-led federal government.
BN and PN would clash in at least three seats, namely Paginatan (Umno vs Bersatu), Tulid (Star vs PBRS) and Sook (Star vs PBRS).
There could be more overlaps as not all component parties which are part of the PN-led federal government have announced their candidates too.
This includes MCA, PBS which is going solo and PAS, which is mulling to contest under the BN or PN logo but did not appear at either announcement. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.