KOTA KINABALU: Parti Warisan says it will allow contests for all party posts in its coming internal elections as it prepares for the next general election.
Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal said the party would hold its triennial meetings from July to August this year and would not limit contests at the branch, division or central level.
“We are not restricting anybody to contest at any level,” he told reporters in Kota Kinabalu on Wednesday (April 22), after chairing a supreme council meeting at the party headquarters in Kolombong.
Shafie said the party needed to strengthen its structure at the grassroots, division and state levels. He said some divisions had been left vacant after local leaders left the party, and that elections would help rebuild both divisional and central leadership with committed teams.
“There are a lot of young members who are keen to do more for the party from the grassroots level,” he said, adding that the party needed to refresh and strengthen its leadership.
When asked whether the party would avoid contests for the posts of president and deputy president, currently held by Shafie and Datuk Darell Leiking, Shafie said contests remained open. He said some Supreme Council members had proposed no contest for the top posts, but the decision would be left to the divisions.
When asked whether the internal elections could divide the grassroots ahead of a general election, Shafie said some divisions, including Kunak, had faced defections by former assemblymen or division chiefs. He said the elections would replace those leaders with people committed to the party divisions.
Warisan won 25 of 73 state seats in the November 2025 state election. It remains in the opposition in Sabah while supporting the federal unity government.
