KUCHING: Sarawak PKR will announce its candidates for 49 seats it is contesting in the 12th Sarawak election tomorrow before nominations on Monday.
Sarawak PKR acting chairman Abang Zulkifli Abang Engkeh said the party's candidates included old and new faces, youth and women, from various backgrounds and professions, who will be contesting in the state polls on Dec 18.
He said out of the 49 seats, there are currently three overlapping seats with DAP, namely, Kemana, Pujut and Piasau.
He said based on the 14th General Election results, PKR has strong grassroots support in the three seats.
"We want to contest in these seats as we have strong candidates, supported by the local community," he said at a press conference today.
"As for now, PKR intends to contest 49 seats, including three seats, which overlap with DAP. So, we hope to resolve it and determine the best winning formula," he said.
Last week, DAP announced its candidates for the three overlapping seats; namely John Bryan (Kemena), Peter Hee Leh Keng (Piasau), Alan Ling Sie Kiong (Pujut).
Meanwhile, PKR Bandar Kuching chairman and Sarawak election director Dominique Ng said the Pakatan Harapan parties will have their own respective manifestos.
"We will have our own manifesto, different from DAP's but it shouldn't be an issue as we are still sharing a common vision. In Sarawak, we do it differently, including the use of respective party logos instead of a common symbol," he said.
"This doesn't mean that there's any disagreement among the PH parties," he added.
Last week, DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen, who is also the Sarawak PH chairman, urged PKR to focus on 47 seats – which had been agreed in January instead of grabbing seats.
Chong said the three opposition partners – DAP, PKR and Amanah – had signed an agreement on seat allocations on Jan 2 this year after many rounds of negotiations, which were attended by PKR leaders as well.
According to the agreement, Sarawak PH will be contesting in all 82 seats, with DAP in 26 seats including the three overlapping seats, PKR in 47 and nine for Amanah.
However, PKR claimed that Kemena was originally a PKR seat but was on loan to DAP in the 2016 election, which it lost. Hence, it should be returned to the party.
Meanwhile, DAP lost Piasau and its Pujut assemblyman was disqualified due to dual citizenship issues which left the seat vacated for three years.
Thus, PKR argued that DAP should give way for it (PKR) to contest as the latter has strong grassroots support.
In the last Sarawak state election in 2016, the two parties had overlapped in six seats, namely Mulu, Mambong, Murum, Simanggang, Ngemah and Bukit Kitang.