GE15: Kiandee ready to defend Beluran amid GRS-Barisan impasse

KOTA KINABALU: Bersatu vice-president Datuk Dr Ronald Kiandee (pic) has announced his intention to defend the Beluran parliamentary seat which he has held since 1999.

In announcing his preparedness to defend the seat for Bersatu, a member of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), the Federal Agriculture and Food Industries Minister said that all party machinery was in place for the 15th General Election (GE15).

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"As an incumbent, I am offering myself to defend the seat for Bersatu," Kiandee declared at the Beluran Bersatu annual general meeting and launching of its election machinery for the constituency.

He said a total of 38 polling district operation centres in Beluran have been activated.

"We are ready for the election," said Kiandee, who won the seat in 2018 on a Barisan ticket but left the party with senior Sabah Umno leaders led by Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor to join Bersatu when it spread its wings to Sabah.

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GRS, led by Sabah Bersatu and Chief Minister Hajiji, are in a coalition government with Sabah Barisan Nasional led by state Umno chief Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin.

Beluran remains an issue in seat negotiations between Bersatu and Umno.

It is learned that Umno is keen to contest the seat and has yet to back down under a seat-sharing formula that gave GRS 13 seats and Barisan 12. Sabah has a total of 25 parliamentary seats.

Both Hajiji and Bung Moktar had separately said that GRS-Barisan would work together in GE15 at the state level even though both their parties, Bersatu and Umno, were at loggerheads at the national level.

Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had endorsed the working relationship of the parties at state level.

Beluran remains a sore point in the final deal between Bersatu and Umno regarding seat sharing.

There is also talk that the seat would see a free-for-all if the impasse cannot be broken, according to sources from both parties.