By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, Nov 20: Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) is confident it has won 23 parliamentary seats in Sarawak in the 15th General Election (GE15) pending the result in P220 Baram.
GPS chairman Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg said the official result for P220 Baram could not be announced as several ballot boxes could not be delivered to the tallying centre due to bad weather.
“However, if we look at the total votes which have been counted, the result will side with GPS subject to (the declaration of) Election Commission (EC). Thus, I wish to thank the people of Sarawak for giving the trust to GPS to voice what we wanted in our manifesto to be brought to Parliament,” he told a press conference at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) last night.
The 15th General Election (GE15) results showed that GPS have gained five seats compared to results in the 14th General Election (GE14).
Responding to a reporter’s query whether the outcome was below expectation, Abang Johari said it was still within their target range, with the best being 28.
He also pointed out that all the GPS women candidates fielded won the respective seats they contested in including the newcomers Rodiyah Sapiee (P200 Batang Sadong) and Dato Sri Doris Sophia Brodie (P202 Sri Aman) — the first Iban women elected as a Member of Parliament.
“Apart from that, we have a young political rookie from P201 Batang Lupar, Mohamad Shafizan Kepli, who will assist our young P218 Sibuti incumbent Lukanisman Awang Sauni who had also secured his second term,” he added.
Commenting on Sarawak United Peoples’ Party’s (SUPP) performance, Abang Johari said the party has captured P208 Sarikei from Democratic Action Party (DAP) which reflects the people’s desire for a stronger GPS presence.
On Parti Rakyat Sarawak’s (PRS) performance especially on P209 Julau, he said it was unfortunate that GPS candidate Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum, who is also PRS president, didn’t manage to win the seat.
“We will have a post-mortem to analyse the results of all the seats that we have contested. but we are still grateful that we have increased (seats) to 23 (which is) better than 18 (previously),” he elaborated.
Concerning the coalition’s defeat in P205 Saratok, he said the voters have made their decision, which GPS would accept and respect.
“At least, we managed to get back P203 Lubok Antu (despite a small difference in votes). A win is still a win. We also got back P202 Sri Aman and P214 Selangau, meaning that GPS is ‘not bad’ (sic),” he emphasised. — DayakDaily
