PBB’s Final List Of Candidates To Be Revealed In March — Adenan

KUCHING: PBB’s final list of candidates for the upcoming state election is expected to be revealed some time in March. Party president Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem, who disclosed this, said the list was almost ready.

“The final list (of candidates) will be (made known) some time in March. However, I cannot, at this time, reveal to you who are our candidates.

“But I think you already know most of the (PBB) incumbents will stay except for quite a few who have tendered their resignation or offered to retire,” he told a press conference after chairing the PBB Supreme Council Meeting at the party’s headquarters yesterday.

When pressed on who among the party’s incumbents would be retiring, Adenan, who is also Chief Minister, only gave a vague reply by stating that there were “quite a few”.

“I cannot name them at this stage…I’ll name them at an appropriate time,” he assured.

However, he informed that out of the 40 seats allocated to the party, ten would see new faces including the five new seats. He stressed that the party would only field the most winnable candidates to ensure victory for Barisan Nasional (BN).

“We will choose the most winnable candidates. That is the main rule because there is no point giving a seat to a component party and they lose if their candidate is not winnable,” he said.

Nevertheless, he acknowledged that the upcoming state election would not be an easy one.

“I don’t know…every election is not easy. We do not underestimate because no election is easy,” he emphasised. Meanwhile, Adenan said the meeting was held to review and improve on steps the party had taken in preparation for the coming state polls.

“We have set up the main committee and various sub-committees on transport, logistics, publicity, security, operation rooms and so on. Instructions have also been given to our various branches to prepare for the election and some of them have already met in preparation for the election,” he revealed.

Among those present during the press conference were PBB deputy presidents Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu Numpang and Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg, secretary-general Datuk Dr Stephen Rundi Utom, senior vice president Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, permanent chairman Datuk Amar Mohd Asfia Awang Nassar, PBB Youth chief Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof and PBB Women’s Wing secretary general Nancy Shukri.-BP