Sarawak DAP is in for a tough fight to defend its seats in the upcoming state election.

Riding on a wave of widespread support for Chief Minister Adenan Satem, BN is expected to win all Muslim majority, and native majority seats, said analyst James Chin.

He added that in urban areas, the ruling coalition is expected to give DAP a run for its money, albeit not enough to win.

"The only seats in danger are Chinese seats. As long as it's a direct BN-DAP fight, BN will reduce DAP's majority.

"But if it's a three-cornered fight between Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP), United People's Party (UPP) and DAP, then it will be an easy win for DAP," Chin told Malaysiakini .

Sarawak DAP was the most successful opposition party in the 2011 state election, winning 12 out of the 15 seats it contested.

Sarawak PKR, on the other hand, only won three out of the 49 seats it contested.

Chin said PKR would do better in urban seats, but points out that DAP wants these seats too.

However, he has been informed that DAP and PKR are ironing out their seat allocation to avoid competing against each other.

Likewise, Adenan has said that seat allocations between SUPP-BN's Chinese majority party in Sarawak and its splinter UPP, would be resolved.

This year's state election comes after a redelineation exercise created 11 new state seats in Sarawak.

Of the 11, seven are native majority, and three are Malay-Melanau majority seats.

Only one seat, Batu Kitang, is majority Chinese, and will be a testing ground for Adenan to see whether his popularity extends to the Chinese community.

Adenan has become wildly popular after replacing long-term chief minister Taib Mahmud.

He has, among others, wrested more autonomy for the state, cracked down on corruption, and most recently abolished tolls in Sarawak.

Adenan's pitch for this election is for him to secure five more years running the state to cement reforms, after which he will step down.