KOTA KINABALU: Perikatan Nasional's sole candidate in Sabah, Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee justified his wildcard nomination with supporters saying that Barisan Nasional had hijacked the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) platform.
The six-term Beluran MP told supporters outside the nomination centre in this North-Eastern Sabah district that they were the true reflection of GRS.
Pointing to Barisan supporters, a visibly worked-up Kiandee said: "Those people there are talking about GRS. It is us who promoted GRS but now they have taken it. We are the real GRS.
"We have been cheated. We will use Perikatan now," Kiandee told his supporters.
Kiandee, the Bersatu vice president, was not allowed to defend his seat under GRS as it was allocated to Barisan under the GRS-Barisan coalition seat-sharing pact in Sabah.
With no signs of either party giving up the seat, Perikatan chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin allowed Kiandee to contest under the Perikatan banner at the eleventh hour, much to the chagrin of GRS chairman Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.
Kiandee, 61, the Federal Agriculture and Food Industry Minister, is in a five-corner contest against Barisan's Umno candidate Benedict Asmat, 54; Felix Joseph Saang, 48 (Pakatan-Upko) with Rowiena Rasid, 34 (Warisan) and Hausing Samsudin, 48 (Pejuang).
Kiandee won the Beluran seat on a Barisan-Umno ticket but left to join Bersatu in 2019.
Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) also broke ranks by allowing Datuk Seri Ewon Ebin to contest the Ranau seat which had been allocated to GRS-Bersatu's Datuk Jonathan Yasin.
Jonathan won the seat on a PKR ticket but left the party with Datuk Seri Azmin Ali during the 2020 Sheraton Move that saw the fall of Pakatan government.
