KOTA KINABALU: Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), which will hold a meeting today to decide on its electoral pact with Pakatan Harapan, may end up losing two component members should the decision go sideways, say sources.
GRS chairman and Gagasan Rakyat Sabah president Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor is facing internal resistance over the pact from at least two parties – Sabah STAR led by Deputy Chief Minister I Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan and Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) led by former chief minister Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee – that are keen to go solo in the coming state election.
Political observers see it as a key meeting that could reshape GRS, as both Sabah STAR and SAPP has been posturing to quit the coalition if it gives in to a pact with Pakatan amid a ground swell in public sentiment to go solo.
“The two leaders might just pull out of GRS to contest the election on their own if they are unhappy with the electoral pact,” a source said.
Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) led by Deputy Chief Minister II Datuk Seri Joachim Gunsalam, Usno whose president is former Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, and Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS) led by former foreign minister Tan Sri Anifah Aman are in support of the pact on the condition that GRS contests more than 50 of the 73 seats.
The other parties in GRS are Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah led by Tan Sri Liew Yun Fah and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) led by Datuk Chin Su Phin.
The meeting today will be followed by the GRS supreme council meeting tomorrow.
The meeting is likely to endorse the pact with Pakatan and its seat sharing formula while Hajiji, who is Chief Minister, might indicate the possible date of dissolution.
The five-year term of the current 16th Sabah Legislative Assembly will dissolve on Nov 11. Although the GRS supreme council meeting on Aug 10 saw all the eight parties agreeing to enter into an electoral pact with Pakatan, both Kitingan and Yong remain focused on GRS going solo.
