Sabah polls: Harapan's love triangle with BN and GRS tilts in its favour

Summary

• PKR insists Sabah seats for Harapan remain exclusive, preventing BN or GRS rivals from contesting.

• Four Umno-linked constituencies emerge as flashpoints, with Harapan pushing for 23 seats, including 13 PKR.

Sabah’s uneasy political “love triangle” involving Pakatan Harapan, BN and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) appears to be tilting in Harapan’s favour.

PKR has made it clear that once a seat is allocated to Harapan, neither BN nor GRS should contest it.

Such exclusivity would spare Harapan from three-cornered fights while allowing it to tap into the election machinery and resources of its partners.

“Our principle is clear: once a seat is agreed for Harapan, BN should not contest, and GRS should not contest. The seats must be exclusive to Harapan,” Sabah PKR chief Mustapha Sakmud told reporters at his parliamentary office in Inanam.

With 73 seats up for grabs in the state assembly, PKR is bent on securing clear boundaries with its allies.

“Any deal must mean exactly that - if it is Harapan’s seat, then only Harapan contests it,” the Sepanggar MP said.

Fight for seats

Harapan consists of PKR, DAP, Upko and Amanah. The exclusive, separate partnerships with GRS and BN stemmed from their 2023 fallout, which has prevented them from functioning as a single bloc - even though Harapan chairperson and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has openly urged unity.

At present, GRS has offered 18 seats to Harapan. BN, meanwhile, has signalled it intends to contest 44 to 45 constituencies, leaving the remainder for Harapan under their electoral pact.

Harapan itself is seeking 23 seats, with PKR pushing for at least 13 of them.

“With GRS, they proposed 18 seats. We said that it is not enough. We initially asked for 23. Within PKR itself, we want at least 13 seats,” Mustapha explained.

Sensitive four

At the heart of the negotiations are four constituencies long associated with Umno: Sungai Sibuga, Sungai Manila, Gum-Gum and Sindumin.

These seats have emerged as a flashpoint in the seat discussions between BN and Harapan.

Local talk suggests Sungai Sibuga and Sindumin could be contested by relatives close to the governor, while Gum-Gum and Sungai Manila may see Umno or GRS leaders run under a PKR banner as part of the deal.

For now, Mustapha confirmed that Gum-Gum has been resolved with BN, while Sindumin remains unsettled.

He declined to comment on Sungai Sibuga and Sungai Manila, or on speculation involving the governor’s family, or whether it would be contested by PKR.

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