KOTA KINABALU, Oct 16 — Parti Warisan (Warisan) welcomes Bandau assemblyman Datuk Wetrom Bahanda to join the party if he decides to do so, but putting him as its candidate in Kota Marudu in the 15th General Election (GE15) is not yet finalised, said Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal.

He said joining Warisan is important step for the Bersatu assemblyman first, while other considerations including becoming a candidate for Warisan will be considered and evaluated later.

"Becoming a candidate is another matter...what is important to us is a winnable candidate, no point of putting A,B,C,D guys if you can’t win. At the end of the day, we need to win elections, we need the numbers. So if he (Wetrom) is a winnable candidate, what’s wrong with him becoming a candidate?

"After all he is a Sabahan, on top of that we want to unite Sabahans too. I have been spelling out in my stand for Sabahans to be united,” he told reporters after his walkabout session at Tamu Gaya Street here today.

He also reiterated Warisan’s intention to work together with Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) in GE15 for the betterment of Sabah.

Yesterday, a video went viral on social media with Wetrom announcing that he is joining Warisan and becoming the party’s candidate for the Kota Marudu parliamentary seat in GE15, but when contacted by reporters, Wetrom said he will hold a press conference this Tuesday or Wednesday regarding the matter.

In GE14, PBS president Datuk Seri Maximus Ongkili, who is also Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Sabah and Sarawak Affairs), won the Kota Marudu seat with a majority of 1,774 votes. — Bernama