KOTA KINABALU: Parti Warisan will go solo in the coming state election, according to party president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal.
Dismissing persistent political talks about potential electoral pacts with other parties, Shafie reiterated Warisan's clear stand as a multi-racial party serving all Sabahans.
"We will contest as a party and our pact is with the people," he said when asked by reporters in Tungku, about 100km from Lahad Datu on Sabah's east coast.
He noted that multi-racial parties in Sabah have previously won and ruled the state.
Shafie mentioned that Parti Berjaya, a multi-racial party, was supported by the people from 1976 to 1984 after replacing Sabah Alliance in 1976, and similarly, Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) held the people's mandate from 1985 to 1994, replacing Berjaya.
"A single party government is not new to Sabah and our people. We (Warisan) may not have the finances, but we are offering ourselves to the people," Shafie told reporters after attending Iftar Ramadan in Tungku on Saturday (March 8).
Shafie, a former Sabah chief minister, lost his two-year-old Warisan-Pakatan Harapan state government to the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) - Sabah Barisan Nasional coalition in the snap September 2020 state election.
Sabah Barisan, led by Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin, has since parted ways with GRS, led by Chief Minister Datuk Hajiji Noor, and has formed a coalition with Sabah Pakatan since January 2023.
Political circles continue to speculate that Warisan, Sabah Barisan, and other local parties are in talks to form a political pact to challenge GRS in the coming state election.
"We have no discussions (for a political pact) with any party," Shafie insisted.
He emphasised that Warisan is well received by people of various ethnic communities and the party's focus remains on reaching out to the people in all areas of the state.
