Sabah Pakatan Rakyat is scheduled to deliberate this weekend on which of the three coalition partners will contest the upcoming Batu Sapi by-election, the national Pakatan leadership council decided today.

azlan PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim said Sabah Pakatan can only make a decision after the Election Commission announce the nomination and polling dates for the by-election this Friday.

He said that Sabah Pakatan is expected to produce a report on the outcome of the meeting by next Monday, at the latest.

“For now we are contesting the by-election, but the final say is up to Pakatan Rakyat Sabah... both Sabah and Sarawak Pakatan have been given full autonomy on these decisions and preparation work,” he said after chairing the national Pakatan leadership Council meeting at his Opposition Leader’s office in Parliament today. 

Anwar acknowledged that there would be a possibility of a multi-faceted battle for the Parliamentary seat, with talk of local opposition front SAPP possibly joining the fray.

He said it would be left to Sabah Pakatan to work out a deal with SAPP to ensure a straight fight and improve the winning chances for the opposition.

“The best case would be a one-on-one contest, but we will leave it to Sabah Pakatan and hopefully they can come to a good discussion with SAPP.”

The Batu Sapi by-election will be called soon following the death of incumbent Edward Chung who met with a motorcycle accident.

PAS to name candidate on Oct 22

On the Galas by-election, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang said they will announce their candidate in Gua Musang, Kelantan on Oct 22, four days before nomination day on Oct 26.

NONE “We already have our candidate, but we will announce on the date we have set... in fact, we have many candidates,” he quipped.

On a more serious note, Hadi stressed that Galas, which went up for contest after the death of state assemblyperson Che Hashim Sulaima on Sept 27, is PAS' seat to defend and that is exactly what they intend to do.

“This is our seat and we are simply filling a vacancy. If you say it is a waste of money, then Umno should pull out and let us win because it is BN that spends millions,” he said, responding to a question on why PAS is contesting Galas when it will not affect the power balance in Kelantan.

Meanwhile, Anwar announced that the Pakatan leadership council has decided on two events to be held over the year end, including a summit meeting for Pakatan Menteris Besar and Chief Ministers which is scheduled for Nov 29 in Shah Alam.

The council also decided to hold the second Pakatan Rakyat convention on Dec 19, this time to be hosted at Dewan Millenium in Kepala Batas, Penang.