Bersatu 'can contest anywhere it wants', jibes Annuar

As Umno and Bersatu head for a collision course in the upcoming Sabah state election, Umno supreme council member Annuar Musa said it is within Bersatu's rights to contest as many seats as it likes.

However, he said the parties must give way to the “stronger party” if they wish to confront Warisan in a straight fight.

“Bersatu can contest as many seats as it wants. That is their right. Try it; the same goes for BN.

“However, if there is a desire for a straight fight against Warisan, there must be negotiations to ensure that we make way for the stronger party to contest,” Annuar (above) said on Twitter last night.

He did not elaborate on what he meant by “stronger party”.

Sabah Bersatu head Hajiji Mohd Noor yesterday said the party had identified 45 seats out of 73 available for it to contest.

This included eight seats that Bersatu did not contest in the last polls, but were won by Umno lawmakers who had since defected to Bersatu.

Sabah Umno chief Bung Moktar Radin, meanwhile, said his party will be fielding candidates for 32 seats that "traditionally" belonged to the party.

As of the dissolution of the state assembly on July 30, Sungai Sibuga assemblyperson Musa Aman is Umno's sole lawmaker in Sabah.

He claimed to have mustered sufficient support from other assemblypersons to form a new state government, but this became moot following the dissolution of the assembly. - Mkini