KOTA KINABALU: The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) hopes to stand in Chinese and urban seats come the state elections if the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) leadership allows them to.
Party president Datuk Chin Su Phin (pic) said that after returning as a government-linked party from the opposition side, their focus is to work towards the elections.
“Of course, we want to ask for seats to contest in, but we cannot decide on how many we want because that is up to the chairman - Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor - to finalise,” he said after the LDP Chinese New Year luncheon gathering here on Saturday (Feb 17).
He said what mattered more at present was the unity within the GRS.
“We have good working relations with all GRS component parties, and although we have not talked about seat arrangements and allocations, LDP wishes to contest in Chinese and urban seats,” said Chin.
“But that’s the jurisdiction of the Chief Minister (Hajiji) to decide,” he added.
He said GRS champions local-based parties, and LDP hoped to see Sabah become a strong local government like Sarawak.
Earlier during the luncheon, Chin said this is their first big celebration after returning from the opposition front and being a member of GRS early last year.
He mentioned the need to foster closer relations with friends, family, work comrades, and political allies.
LDP was one of the eight Barisan Nasional component parties in Sabah, but it pulled out from the coalition after its defeat in GE14 in 2018.
LDP lost in all the five seats – one Parliamentary and four state – it contested then.
In the September 2020 Sabah elections, LDP tried to make a comeback when it fielded 46 candidates but lost all its deposits.
It later applied to join GRS and was only accepted in 2023.
