PKR today announced the names of 27 candidates who will represent the party in the Sarawak state election on Dec 18.
Sarawak PKR leadership council secretary Joshua Jabeng said after much consideration, the party had decided to contest only the seats where it has a higher chance of winning.
“The rationale behind this is not just to contest, but more importantly it is to win… that’s why we decided to contest in the seats that we are confident we can win.
“Besides, we will not contest the seats contested by DAP… it’s to avoid overlapping. That’s our principle and spirit in Pakatan Harapan (PH),” he told a press conference at the Sarawak PKR headquarters in Kuching.
Yesterday, acting Sarawak PKR leadership council chairman Abang Zulkifli Abang Engkeh said the party would contest 49 out of the 82 seats in the state election.
Meanwhile, PKR state election director Dominique Ng said PKR had acted rationally by not fielding candidates in seats which the party had no hope of winning.
“Actually, the 49 seats that we mentioned earlier were focused seats, but we didn’t say we will contest in reality. We would rather focus more on the winnable seats than put our candidates in areas where we have absolutely no chance.
“Right now, it seems like a lot of other parties… so we decided to reduce our seats because we need to be realistic in our expectations. That’s why we rather had a drastic reduction,” he said.
Ng said the party might make some last-minute changes and add a few more names to the list.
“But certainly no big corner fights with DAP, because we are running in the same PH,” he said.
The following is the list of PKR candidates for the 12th Sarawak state election announced today:
Opar – Meneng Biris
Tupong – Ahmad Nazib Johari
Satok – Nor Dahlia Esapian Eyau
Batu Lintang – Cherishe Ng
Asajaya – Mahmud Epah
Serumbu – Micheal Sawing
Tarat – Christo Micheal
Tebedu – Senior William Rade
Sadong Jaya – Piee Ling
Lingga – Abg Abd Kasim Abg Bujang
Beting Maro – Abg Zulkifli Abg Engkeh
Saribas – Patrick Kamis
Bukit Saban – Mikail Mathew Abdullah
Ngemah – Satu Anchom
Machan – M Fauzi @ Joseph Usit
Telian – Mohd Arwin Abdullah
Balingian – Abd Jalil Bujang
Kakus – Joshua Jabeng
Katibas – Munan Laja
Murum – Ani Amat
Bekenu – Norhafizah Johari
Lambir – Zolhaidah Suboh
Marudi – Elias Lipi
Telang Usan – Philip Jau Ding
Mulu – Roland Engan
Batu Danau – Racha Balang
Ba’kelalan – Martin Samuel Labo