SEMPORNA: Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) is giving the mandate to DAP to decide on the candidate for the Sandakan parliamentary by-election next month.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal said he would meet with DAP secretary general Lim Guan Eng to discuss the by-election tomorrow.
“We will discuss the by-election because the Sandakan parliamentary seat belongs to DAP. They (DAP) will decide the candidate to be fielded and Warisan will ensure its machinery works hard to bring victory,” he told reporters after launching the Warisan general meeting here today.
The Warisan president and Semporna MP expressed confidence that the party could win the Sandakan by-election if the election machinery continued to work hard and engage the rakyat.
The Sandakan parliament seat fell vacant after its incumbent Datuk Stephen Wong, who was state Health and People’s Wellbeing Minister and state DAP chairman, died of heart attack on March 28.
In the 14th general election, Wong defended his parliamentary seat after obtaining 19,094 votes, beating BN candidate Datuk Lim Ming Hoo, who received 8,996 votes.
On Friday, the Election Commission announced Sandakan parliamentary by-election to be held on May 11, with its nomination date set on April 27 and early polling is fixed on May 7.
Meanwhile, when asked on the appointment of Datuk Hajiji Mohd Noor as the state Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysian (Bersatu) coordinator yesterday, Shafie said it was the party’s right and all quarters needed to accept it.
He stressed the Warisan-led government would continue to work with Bersatu at the federal level as usual.
Earlier in his speech, Shafie, who won uncontested for the Semporna Warisan division chief, urged all delegations to apply positive values in their struggle and to strengthen the party’s unity.
“Although Warisan is still young, we must learn from the fall of Parti Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Sabah Bersatu (Usno), Umno, Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) and Parti Bersatu Rakyat Jelata Sabah (Berjaya), because of power-greedy leaders,” he said.