Sabah DAP has said it will not cede either of the two Kota Kinabalu state seats it currently holds to Parti Warisan Sabah, leading to a deadlock in seat negotiations.

In the 2013 general election, DAP won Luyang with an 8,676-vote majority and Likas with a 5,652-vote majority.

Sabah DAP chief Stephen Wong said the party was only willing to give Warisan the Karamunting seat, which it lost by just 855 votes in GE13.

According to Wong, DAP was only offered three parliamentary and six state seats for the 14th general election, down from the four parliamentary and eight state seats it contested in 2013.

"We want to contest five parliamentary seats and 10 state seats this time. No way for us to accept less than what we contested in 2013.

"This is our baseline. If we were to give in more, I will have to resign, as I would not be able to face my party members," the Sandakan MP told Malaysiakini.

Party dignity at stake

DAP’s dignity was also at stake, Wong stressed, because those who “betrayed” the party should not be accommodated.

Both the incumbents – Likas representative Wong Hong Jun and Lukang assemblyperson Hiew King Cheu – quit DAP after the election. Wong went on to join Warisan, while Hiew joined MCA.

"So, we are in a deadlock, we cannot resolve the matter for now. We had conducted two formal meetings and two informal meetings with Warisan, even with the party president Mohd Shafie Apdal (photo) himself," he said.

Wong, who is currently attending the Parliament sitting in Kuala Lumpur, said he had briefed the party’s central executive committee (CEC) on Sabah DAP’s stance.

He did not discount the possibility of DAP running against Warisan in Likas and Luyang if both parties failed to arrive at a consensus.

"If this is so, then we will have to stand (at Likas and Luyang). We are prepared, this is not our fault.

“You put our chances of the cooperation between both parties at risk just for one man," he said.

According to a party source, Warisan intends to contest in two-thirds of Sabah’s 60 state seats, and in at least half of the 25 parliamentary seats in the 14th general election.

Meanwhile, Sabah PKR chief Christina Liew said her party is still in talks with Warisan to settle the remaining 10 percent of seats with overlapping claims.

Liew said she believes both parties can resolve the claims before the dissolution of Parliament.