About 25 percent of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu candidates in the April 16 state election will be new faces, Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud said today.

Taib, who is PBB president, said he would be meet Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak with a list of candidates from all four BN component parties in the state.

“Yes, I have finalised the list for PBB," he told reporters at the party headquarters here.

Earlier, he and top leaders of the state BN coalition attended a closed door briefing with Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

PBB will contest 35 of the 71 state seats, Sarawak United People’s Party 19, Parti Rakyat Sarawak nine, and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party eight.

The list of BN candidates is expected to be announced by the end of the week, with nomination set for April 6.

Taib, who is state BN chairman, said that women leaders had been approached but they were reluctant to be nominated because they feared a clash between their duties as homemaker and the responsibilities of public office.

SUPP president Dr George Chan said that his party’s list of candidates would be finalised in the next two days.

Asked if there would be surprises in the list, he said: “Not really, but wait and see”.

SPDP president William Mawan said that his party’s list would be ready in the next two days.

PRS president Datuk Seri Dr James Masing said that two of his party's candidates are likely to be new faces.

- Bernama