KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Umno and Barisan Nasional Sabah remain firm in their decision not to cooperate with Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) in the upcoming state election, while maintaining their partnership with Pakatan Harapan.
Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the decision was reached after a Sabah Umno political bureau meeting on Thursday (June 27).
He said it followed a review of seat negotiations and discussions involving GRS, Barisan and Pakatan leaders, which were chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim during a meeting held here earlier.
In that meeting, the Prime Minister said that, as much as possible, three-cornered fights or overlapping seats should be avoided.
A technical committee comprising GRS, Barisan and Pakatan representatives was earlier formed to discuss seat allocations, with several rounds of talks held in Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur.
After reviewing all facts and details from the tripartite discussions, Zahid said he had conveyed the decision of the leadership, particularly Umno, that they would maintain cooperation between Barisan and Pakatan.
However, he said Barisan Sabah and Sabah Umno will not have any cooperation with GRS.
At this point, GRS and Sabah Barisan are unlikely to contest seats allocated to Pakatan, but clashes between GRS and Barisan remain possible in other constituencies.
