Both Warisan Plus and Perikatan Nasional (PN) delayed the unveiling of their candidates for the Sabah state election this morning, as seat allocation negotiations continue into the eleventh hour.
The Warisan Plus caretaker government’s event, which was scheduled for 9.30am, only started at 11.15am while Opposition PN’s, together with Barisan Nasional (BN), only began more than an hour after its scheduled 10am announcement.
Warisan, whose reveal was at the new Sabah International Convention Centre, presumably faced opposition from ally PKR that had last night pre-emptively announced their seats, ahead of the scheduled announcement.
It revealed cracks in the state government’s alliance and was seen as a snub to state party chairman Datuk Christina Liew.
This morning, the digital backdrop of the launch was also missing the PKR logo, despite featuring the logos of its other partners, namely DAP, Upko and Parti Amanah Negara.
This was later changed and Liew, a staunch Shafie supporter, herself showed up at the launch, indicating the partnership was still intact.
At the PN-BN camp at the Sutera Magellan Resort, the digital backdrop started off as Majlis Penamaan Calon (candidate naming ceremony), but later changed to Majlis Ramah Mesra Pemimpin Pemimpin BN & PN (Bersatu) (Social Meeting with BN and PN (Bersatu) leader).
The delay was fuelled by rumours of whether former chief minister Tan Sri Musa Aman would be fielded and whether an agreement has been struck with partners Parti Solidarity Tanah Airku (STAR), whose president Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan had yesterday expressed displeasure at the number of seats requested by Umno. – MMO