SARAWAK PKR has been meeting to decide if the party will field a candidate for the Jepak state seat which fell vacant when its incumbent, Talib Zulpilip, who had represented this Malay-Melanau majority constituency since the seat was created in 1969, died last Friday.

“We’re in the midst of forming our decision,” PKR state chairman, Roland Engan, told The Malaysian Insight.

The 72-year-old Talib from Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), died at around 6pm at the Normah Medical Specialist Centre in Petra Jaya.

He was buried later that night at the Semariang Muslim cemetery.

PKR, a component of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, gave the seat a skip in the 2021 state election.

In that election, Talib saw off the challenges of Parti Sarawak Bersatu’s (PSB) Raba’ah Tudin, Parti Bumi Kenyalang’s (PBK) Stevenson Joseph Sumbang and independent Tuah Kazan.

Talib, who was minister in the Chief Minister’s Department (Integrity and Ombudsman) from 2017 to 2021, retained this seat of 14, 643 voters with a 4,243-vote majority.

He polled 6,277 votes to his nearest challenger, PSB’s Raba’ah, who polled 2,034 votes.

PKR had contested the seat in the 2011 and 2016 elections, fielding Abdul Jalil Bujang, and on both occasions failed to make any impression.

Their component partner in PH, DAP had similarly tried their luck in the 2006 and 2001 elections when the party fielded Wan Saimi Wan Dahlan on both occasions.

The Election Commission (EC) is expected to meet this coming Monday to decide on the date of the by-election. – September 20, 2023.