By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, Dec 18: The outcome of the 12th Sarawak Election is a bitter pill for Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) to swallow.
The political party sent the largest contingent of hopefuls to contest 73 seats in the Sarawak Legislative Assembly but could not even secure one seat. The party placed the most bets but ended up the biggest loser among all contending parties.
At 8.54pm, when the results of many constituencies has yet to be confirmed by the Election Commission, PBK president Voon Lee Shan already released a statement announcing its defeat in the party’s debut election.
“Although we (have) lost, that does not mean any good victory for GPS (Gabungan Parti Sarawak).
“The voter turnout in most constituencies are very low and (some) as low as less than 30 per cent. The victory by GPS is nothing to be proud off,” said Voon.
Voon who is a lawyer by profession accused GPS of taking control of the whole situation and exploiting the Covid-19 pandemic to the latter’s advantage.
While alleging GPS had used the State’s resources and government machinery to campaign, Voon also accused GPS of keeping development away from the people so that the GPS coalition may continue to stay in power.
“Although PBK had lost all seats contested but we are proud to be able to assemble 73 candidates for these elections,” said Voon.
As of 10.35pm with the results of 74 seats announced, PBK candidates garnered less than 1,000 votes in all areas they contested in except for Priscilla Lau in Bukit Assek who managed to poll 2,598 votes, Tiew Yen Huong in Pelawan with 3,146 votes, Leslie Ting in Pujut with 1,022 votes, Eric Ngieng in Senadin with 1,023 votes and Voon in Batu Lintang with 1,570 votes. — DayakDaily
