ANWAR Ibrahim’s announcement that the Perikatan Nasional government has fallen at the federal level will have minimal impact on the ongoing Sabah elections, Sabah DAP said.

“As the Sabah election is primarily on state issues, Anwar’s announcement on getting sufficient support to form the federal government is secondary,” Sabah DAP Secretary Chan Foong Hin told The Malaysian Insight today.

“It may have some impact on the urban seats but less likely in the rural seats,” said the Kota Kinabalu MP.

“As his announcement is still ambiguous at the moment, we don’t expect it to affect those contesting under the Warisan Plus ticket.

“However, PKR seats may receive a boost from Anwar’s announcement.”

PKR is contesting 7 seats in the 73-seat Sabah state assembly.

Out of the 7, PKR is defending the Api-Api and Inanam seats, which were won by caretaker Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Christina Liew and former Sabah Finance Minister Kenny Chua.

Chua, however, has since left PKR and is contesting as an independent who is supported by Perikatan Nasional.

At noon today, PKR president Anwar held a press conference in Kuala Lumpur and said that he had enough support to form a new federal government.

He was coy on the actual numbers, saying he would only reveal more details after meeting the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong, who is currently warded at the National Heart Institute (Institute Jantung Negara).

Shortly, after his announcement, Amanah and DAP said they were behind Anwar if he had sufficient numbers to form a new government. PKR has 38 seats while Amanah and DAP have 11 and 42 respectively.

Ilham Centre director Hisomuddin Bakar also does not expect Anwar’s announcement to affect Sabah’s state elections.

“Grassroots voters are not concerned about such issues at all. Take the Bung Mokhtar Radin, Mohd Shafie Apdal or Muhyiddin Yassin issues for instance.

“The only people discussing these issues are the party people. Regular voters in the rural areas are not bothered at all,” said the pollster, after completing a two-week group discussion survey in Sabah today.

“This kind of thing is seen as a Malaya issue and doesn’t capture the imagination of the rural voters here. Local voters are more concerned about the candidates’ track record and performance in their areas.” – September 23, 2020.