By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, Nov 5: A total of 92 individuals have successfully registered themselves as candidates to vie for 31 parliamentary seats in Sarawak in the 15th General Election (GE15), which will poll on Nov 19.
Out of the 92 candidates, 11 of them are Independents, while the remaining are attached to various political parties.
The ruling coalition, which is made up of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), as expected, is placing candidates in all the 31 seats.
National Opposition Pakatan Harapan (PH), consisting of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Democratic Action Party (DAP), and Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah), which was expected to take on 31 seats as well, fielded a candidate in every constituency except for Julau.
Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) and Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS), which are components of Perikatan Nasional (PN) and are GPS-friendly, threw in candidates for four seats, namely Saratok (Datuk Ali Biju), Lubok Antu (Jugah Muyang), and Bintulu (Duke Janteng) while PAS sent only Hamdan Sani to contest in Batang Lupar.
Local parties Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB), Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK), and Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) have formed a loose coalition to face this general election where all PBK candidates are contesting under the PSB banner except Mas Gading where its candidate Ryan Sim maintains using the PBK logo.
PSB contests in 10 seats, of which six of its candidates are from PBK. Its other ally party, PBDS, contested in three seats, namely Julau (Susan George), Kapit (Robert Saweng), and Sibuti (Bobby William).
Apart from Bersatu, PAS, Amanah, another GPS-friendly party, Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM), also fielded its candidate here, even though it is only one. The candidate is none other than the PBM president himself, Datuk Larry Sng, who is defending Julau.
Like PBM, another local party Parti Sedar Rakyat Sarawak (Sedar), also fielded one candidate in the person of the party president. Othman Abdillah has fielded himself in Petra Jaya to contest against GPS heavyweight Fadillah Yusof and PKR’s Sopian Julaihi.
Of the 31 seats, Kanowit is the constituency with the most candidates of five. There are 17 constituencies with three candidates, and five constituencies see four candidates. As many as eight constituencies registered two candidates. Â
Meanwhile, Parti Aspirasi Rakyat Sarawak (Aspirasi) decided not to field any candidates to protest against the calling of the election during the monsoon season. It is also to prevent any further split of votes, which according to its president Lina Soo, will benefit only one particular party. Â
GE15 was called after the dissolution of Parliament on Oct 10, 2022. The Election Commission decided today as nomination day and November 19 as polling day. — DayakDailyÂ
