KOTA KINABALU: Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) is confident that it will return to power with a fresh mandate from the people in the 16th State Election.
Warisan President Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal believes that the party and its allies - Pakatan Harapan, United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation (Upko) and Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) - can secure more seats this time around.
"The first stage is for Warisan, Pakatan Harapan to defend the seats that they won during the last General Election.
"But, for the additional 13 state seats, we will still have to discuss it," he said after chairing a 3-hour Warisan supreme council meeting at Wisma Kolombong here.
The outgoing Sabah state assembly which now has 65 state seats, with 60 being elected and another five appointed.
In the upcoming polls state seats have been increased to 78, with 73 being contested in the next state polls and the remaining five being by way of appointment.
Present at the meeting today were Warisan deputy president Datuk Darell Leiking, vice presidents Datuk Peter Anthony and Datuk Junz Wong among others.
During the 15th State Election which was held concurrently with the 14th General Election, Warisan and Pakatan Harapan garnered 29 out of the then 60 state seats contested.
Two days after Tan Sri Musa Aman was made the Chief Minister, the incumbent Senallang assemblyman was sworn in as the 14th Chief Minister and formed the state government when he managed to cobble together a 35-seat majority with six elected representatives who defected from Barisan Nasional.
"I am confident that we can win this state election. In fact, during the last general election, we were supposed to win several state seats such as Putatan which saw the recounting of ballot papers from 5pm until 4am.
"I believe the people of Sabah are smart and can choose either (Tan Sri) Musa Aman, (Datuk Seri) Anifah Aman, (Datuk Seri) Bung Moktar, (Datuk) Hajiji Mohd Noor or Shafie as the Chief Minister," he added.
On the issue of holding snap polls amidst Covid-19, Shafie said that there should be no problems should voters abide by the standard operating procedures.
"They (Musa) had criticised that having an election now could 'destroy' the people. But, if they did not disrupt (the Warisan-led government), there would not be any problem.
"If elections can be held at Tasik Chini and (upcoming) Slim state by-election, it should not be impossible for Sabah. We will do our best to encourage people to come out to vote", Shafie said.
Snap polls in Sabah are being held after Shafie dissolved the 15th state assembly on July 29.
This comes after several elected representatives from Parti Warisan Sabah-PH-Upko pact defected over to support Musa as the new state chief executive.
The move was to topple Shafie-led state government, with Musa claiming he had obtained simple majority to take over the state administration.
Following the dissolution of the unicameral chamber, the 16th state election must be held in the next 60 days.
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