KOTA KINABALU, Oct 19 — Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) vice-president Datuk Ronald Kiandee has announced his intention to defend the Beluran parliamentary seat that he has held since 1999.
His statement comes ahead of the announcement by the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and Barisan Nasional (BN) pact of its candidate list which has yet to be finalised.
“As an incumbent, I am offering myself to defend the seat for Bersatu,” Kiandee said during the party’s Beluran division annual general meeting and launch of its election machinery.
The agriculture and food industry minister said that a total of 38 polling district operation centres in Beluran had been activated.
“We are ready to for the election,” said Kiandee.
He won the seat in 2018 on a BN ticket but was among the mass exodus of Umno leaders who left the party in December 2018 to join PPBM when it spread its wings to Sabah.
PPBM later joined up with BN and other parties to topple the Warisan-led government under the GRS name.
Led by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, it formed the GRS state government with BN as its allies.
Since the falling out with the PN government, GRS and BN have vowed to forge ahead together after riding out a tumultuous start.
However, cracks have re-emerged as seat negotiations drag out among the coalition’s nine parties and component parties have made their discontent publicly known.
Beluran is said to be among the most contentious seats under discussion, as both PPBM and Umno tussle for it. In the deal, GRS is said to contest 13 seats and BN 12 seats out of the total 25.
