Warisan president Shafie Apdal said he informed PKR president Anwar Ibrahim that the main objective is to win the Sabah state election when the pair discussed seat allocations.
“I told Anwar (Ibrahim), who came to my house…I said I gave many seats (to PKR) 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 elections. 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 elections, that is more important,” said Shafie during Warisan Sabah’s candidate announcement in Kota Kinabalu today.
The caretaker Sabah chief minister was explaining why PKR only got half the seats it expected although the party said that it planned to contest in 14 seats yesterday.
In the last general election in 2018, PKR won two out of the eight seats it was allocated.
Shafie also took a jab at PKR in his speech today when he called out the party for not using the Warisan logo.
“DAP and Amanah are willing. Only PKR is unwilling.
“They do not want to use the logo, the number (of seats) is also undecided.
“I have told them that we are in agreement and that is the number we must contest,” he said.
Shafie explained in a press conference later that the seats were decided based on winnability.
“It is not based on the grassroots and the number of members (a party has) but the ability to contribute and win every seat we contest in,” he added.
Despite PKR not getting the number of seats they expected, Shafie hopes that they will continue to uphold their cooperation with Warisan and other allies during the snap polls.
However, he said they are prepared for whatever “consequences” they might face in the election.
The 16th Sabah state election, with 73 seats up for grabs, begins on Saturday with polling set for September 26.