Final call for candidates

KUCHING: With two days to go before nominations are filed for the state election, political parties have decided or are close to finalising their candidate lists for the 82 seats on offer.

Ruling coalition Gabungan Parti Sarawak has made known its list, comprising candidates from Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP).

This is the first outing for these parties under the GPS banner, having contested on the Barisan Nasional ticket before Sarawak parties pulled out after the 14th General Election in 2018.

Confirming speculation, caretaker chief minister and PBB president Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg will be contesting the Gedong seat in this election.

He will be leaving behind his Satok seat which he has held since 1981.

This will be the first election where Abang Johari is leading as party president and chief minister – positions he assumed following the death of Tan Sri Adenan Satem in 2017.

His Satok seat will be contested by PBB supreme council member Datuk Ibrahim Baki, a long-time ally of Abang Johari.

SUPP president Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian will be defending his Batu Kawah seat against at least one other contender for now: DAP’s Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii.

The seat of the late PRS president Tan Sri James Masing in Baleh will be contested by his nephew Nicholas Kudi Masing.

PDP president and Bintulu MP Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing will be contesting the Dudong seat in his first outing in state elections.

PKR has confirmed that it will be fielding candidates in 27 seats, with state acting chairman Abang Zulkifli Abang Engkeh to contest in Beting Maro.

This is a significant reduction from the 40 candidates it put forth in the 2016 state election.

Local opposition party Parti Sarawak Bersatu president Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh will defend his Bawang Assan seat where he has been contesting for the past 30 years since 1991.

PSB presidential council member Baru Bian will defend his Ba’kelalan seat.

Baru has been contesting the seat since the 2004 state election under different tickets – as an Independent, as a member of the Sarawak National Party (SNAP) and also under the PKR banner.

He has been the assemblyman for the constituency since 2011.

This will also be PSB’s first outing.

State DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen will move from his three-term Kota Sentosa seat to contest in Padungan.

His argument for doing this was that he had to explain to voters in Padungan why their incumbent DAP assemblyman Wong King Wei decided to quit.

In July last year, Wong resigned from DAP, citing disillusionment with the party’s direction and management, and that it has “totally deviated” from its aims, objectives and struggles of its earlier days when he first joined in 2006.

PAS, which contested 11 seats and lost all in 2016, is expected to announce its candidates today.

Amanah, which had contested 13 seats and also lost all, is expected to field candidates in nine seats.