KOTA KINABALU, Oct 2 — Parti Warisan is unsure whether it will contest all 73 state seats, said party president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal.

The former chief minister said they will focus their efforts on the seats it won in the last state election and other seats they consider "winnable”.

"We have not yet decided whether to contest all 73 seats. We have to assess our strengths. One of the biggest considerations is the support of the grassroots.

"But we will definitely contest seats which we won before, that is for sure,” he said.

In the last Sabah state election, Warisan contested 46 seats and won 23.

Over the last few years, 11 of state assemblymen have left the party while two DAP state assembly members have joined Warisan, leaving the party with 14 seats currently.

When asked about its potential alliance for the upcoming Sabah state election, Shafie said the party has not made any decisions on political cooperation and has not entered into formal negotiations with any party.

He stated that Warisan’s preference was to work with local parties for Sabah’s interests and was unlikely to partner with any party beholden to national leaders.

"We hope that any party interested in working with Warisan would genuinely defend Sabah’s rights, including the 40 per cent return of revenue that Sabah is entitled to under the Federal Constitution.

"That is the mandate given by the people and the trust given by the people should not be betrayed,” he said.

He also dismissed the likelihood of working with Barisan Nasional (BN), despite having earlier courted the idea with Sabah BN chief Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin.

BN Chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi indicated that BN would collaborate with Pakatan Harapan (PH) for the Sabah state election.

Shafie said that they were not unwilling to go into the elections alone despite recent patterns showing no single party could win on its own.

"In Sabah’s political history there have been several instances of single-party rule, proving that a coalition is not always a guaranteed formula for victory—it all depends on the voters’ choice,” he said.

He was referring to the Berjaya government, who ruled from 1976 to 1985 and then Parti Bersatu Sabah who was the ruling government from 1985 to 1994.

Warisan itself formed the state government in 2018 by teaming up with Pakatan Harapan. However, that alliance did not make it past the 2020 elections when it lost to the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah coalition.

Sabah is due for a state election by the end of next year.