PKR announces 35 of 40 seats it is contesting

KUCHING: Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian today revealed 35 out of the 40 candidates who will be contesting in the Sarawak election on May 7.

Among those who were named this evening were Voon Shiak Ni (Batu Kitang), Noel Changgai Bucking (Bukit Saban), Elia Bit (Marudi), Jamilah Baharuddin (Simunjan) and Nur Hanim Mokhsen ( Tupong).

Baru himself will defend his Ba’ Kelalan seat.

The remaining five, Baru said, had yet to be decided as the party was still discussing whether or not to contest in the constituencies in a bid to avoid multi-cornered fights with its allies, Amanah and DAP.

Baru, however, refused to disclose the remaining five areas the party was mulling over.

“PKR Sarawak leaders will resolve this matter before nomination day (April 25). It is still being negotiated.

“We are aware that we have two days left and that we have limited time. We will do our best,” he said at a press conference.

When asked about the reason for the delay, Baru said the party wanted to avoid contesting any seats DAP was eyeing as Pakatan Harapan’s main enemy was Barisan Nasional and not one another.

“This is normal in politics. There are bound to be overlapping seats. Leave it to PKR, which has been given the mandate to negotiate over this matter.”

DAP had yesterday announced a finalised list of 29 candidates.

Baru went on to point out that PKR’s candidates this time around were a comprehensive mix of professionals, females and various age groups.

“We hope the people in Sarawak will appreciate that we are a multiracial party.”

He said PKR was confident of bagging most of the 35 seats, especially as the support it had received from those in the rural areas appeared to be positive.

“You have to appreciate that we have candidates who are committed and who have been working over the last few years. They were given Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to fulfil.

“So we hope with all these preparations, we will do better. We hope that our message of transformation and change will be understood by voters in the rural areas this time.”
In the last election, PKR won three of the 49 seats they contested.

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