Falling short of expectation: GPS wins 23 out of 31 parliamentary seats

By Lian Cheng

KUCHING, Nov 20: The expected landslide victory for Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) failed to materialise with the ruling State coalition managing only to win 23 out of 31 federal seats in Sarawak in the 15th General Election (GE15).

Expectations were high due to GPS’ almost total wipeout of the opposition during the 2021 Sarawak Election.

In GE15, GPS’ backbone party, Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Sarawak (PBB), has again shown its prowess by retaining all 14 seats it contested in, comprising Santubong, Petra Jaya, Kota Samarahan, Puncak Borneo, Batang Lupar, Batang Sadong, Betong, Tanjong Manis, Igan, Mukah, Kapit, Sibuti, Limbang, and Lawas.

The party lost in Puncak Borneo in GE14. However, months before GE15, it accepted the application of incumbent parliamentarian Datuk Willie Mongin, who, as expected, managed to defend the seat. Following that, PBB now has 14 federal seats under its belt.

Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP), which is the second largest component party within the GPS coalition, did not perform as well as expected. It only managed to wrest back one seat—Sarikei—and retain Serian.

This means the party which has traditionally been allocated seven seats held on to only two seats this election, which is only a slight improvement compares to its GE14 result where it won only one seat.

SUPP’s ‘lost’ seats which are all Chinese majority seats continued to be strongly defended by Democratic Action Party (DAP) which has kept its hold on Bandar Kuching, Stampin, Sibu and Lanang. Miri which has been held by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) continued to be guarded fiercely by the party’s new face Chiew Choon Man.

While SUPP failed to score a win in most of its traditional seats, Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) has improved tremendously by regaining three of its ‘lost’ seats, comprising Selangau, Sri Aman and Lubok Antu, while defending both Hulu Rajang and Kanowit. It only failed to recapture Julau.

Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) is traditionally allocated four federal seats by GPS, namely Saratok, Mas Gading, Baram, and Bintulu. It lost the first two seats of Saratok and Mas Gading in GE14 and did not manage to make any progress this election.

Meanwhile, on the Opposition side, the national coalition Pakatan Harapan (PH), consisting of PKR, DAP, and Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah), which fielded 30 candidates except in Julau, defended most of their seats except Sarikei which was recaptured by SUPP.

Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) and Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS), which are component parties in Perikatan Nasional (PN) and are GPS-friendly, fielded candidates in 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.

PN only managed to keep Saratok while failing in their attempt to unseat any GPS candidate.

Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB), Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK), and Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS), which had formed a loose coalition to face this general election where all PBK candidates contested under the PSB banner except Mas Gading, suffered crushing defeats.

PSB contested in 10 seats, of which six of its candidates are from PBK. Its other ally, PBDS, contested in three seats, namely Julau (Susan George), Kapit (Robert Saweng), and Sibuti (Bobby William).

The coalition failed to make headway in any seat and was wiped out.

Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM), formerly known as Sarawak Workers Party (SWP), contested only one seat, Julau, which its president Datuk Larry Sng defended.

Like PBM, local party Parti Sedar Rakyat Sarawak (Sedar), also fielded one candidate in the person of the party president.

Othman Abdillah stood for election in Petra Jaya against GPS heavyweight Dato Sri Fadillah Yusof and PKR’s Sopian Julaihi and lost. Unlike Sng, Othman’s efforts were in vain.

There was a total of 11 independent candidates throwing their hats into the ring but none emerged victorious.

Meanwhile, Parti Aspirasi Rakyat Sarawak (Aspirasi) decided not to field any candidates to protest against the decision to hold the genereal election during the monsoon season. It was also to prevent any further split in votes, which according to its president Lina Soo, will benefit only one particular party, which she did not name.

GE15 was called after the dissolution of Parliament on Oct 10, 2022. The Election Commission announced November 19, as polling day.

Seat distribution according to coalition and party in Sarawak, after GE15 polling on Nov 19, 2022

Sarawak’s winning parties and candidates for GE15 which polled on Nov 19, 2022

— DayakDaily