Guan Eng: Pakatan needs one-third of Sabah and Sarawak to take power

By Melissa Chi

January 07, 2012

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 7 — Lim Guan Eng set an 18-seat target for Pakatan Rakyat (PR) today in Sabah and Sarawak for the next general elections to take over federal government.

“You cannot give them this kind of handicap. To win Putrajaya, you must win more than two seats obviously.
“If you want to make a change, Ubah Malaysia Ubah, you must try for at least 18 seats in Sabah, Sarawak. That is one third.

“It will bring you closer to your target. You are within striking distance of the majority of the seats,” the DAP secretary-general (picture) told reporters after launching a fundraising website for the party’s campaign Sarawak.

In 2008, PR was 30 federal seats short of taking over Putrajaya with only DAP winning seats in Sabah (Kota Kinabalu) and Sarawak (Kuching).

However, it gained another seat in Sarawak when DAP state chief Wong Ho Leng won the Sibu by-election in May 2010.

The Sarawak state election in April last year saw Barisan Nasional (BN) losing 16 seats, twice the number it ceded in the previous state polls.

DAP made the biggest gains, doubling its representation to 12 while PKR won three seats, up from just one in 2006.

PR leaders have said the April 2011 will translate to gaining another four to six federal seats in the next general elections but believe even more voters will swing their way during federal polls.