Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah said it will officially join Gabungan Sabah very soon.

Its president Datuk Lajim Ukin confirmed his party will join as a ‘component’ of the currently three-party coalition, and not merely on a loose electoral pact.

That will make the local party coalition a four-member coalition — PCS, Star, SAPP and Harapan — leaving only Warisan as a major local opposition party not in the coalition.

Of late, Warisan, led by Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, is seen to be more keen to work with peninsula-based Pakatan Harapan than Gabungan Sabah.

“We have decided that Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah will join Gabungan Sabah to face the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) in the coming general election in order to increase the chances of defeating BN,” Lajim said.

Lajim, who is also Klias assemblyman, was speaking at the launching of his election machinery for the Kerukan polling district at Kampung Ketagop Kekapor near here yesterday.

At the event, Lajim also received nine new branches of his party in the polling district. Several Umno members were also accepted into the party led by Mohd Shah Julin. A popular former local independent candidate, Rapaih Idris, who got more votes than the Keadilan candidate for Lumadan seat in the last general election in 2013, also announced he was joining Lajim’s party at the event.

Lajim, who ditched PKR to form his own party in September last year, also said that he was confident the four parties could work out the seats arrangement among them.

“We can even work with Pakatan Harapan provided they pave the way for Sabah parties to lead the field in Sabah,” he said, adding that local parties should best be allowed to dominate the state and not peninsula-based parties.

Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST

by Borneo Post

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