Upko Vice-President Siringan Gubat named the four seats the party was interested in as Dambai, Mengaris, Telupid and Bengkoka, The Borneo Post reported today.
“The Orang Asal form the majority in these seats, and we have many Upko members in these four new seats,” Siringan was quoted as saying in justifying the Barisan Nasional (BN) component party’s request.
“Our President, Wilfred Madius Tangau, will raise the matter with the BN Supreme Council.”
In the last general election (GE13), Upko won four out of the six seats it contested in – Kuamut, Paginatan, Kuala Penyu and Nabawan – and Siringan also insisted that Upko must be able to contest for these seats again.
Upko also has three MPs, namely for Tuaran, Putatan and Ranau.
Siringan, who is the Paginatan assemblyman and State Minister for Resource Development and Information Technology, added that the Kota Marudu Upko division also wants to take over the Tandek state seat from BN ally PBS for the next general election (GE14).
“Either the new seat Mengaris or existing Tandek seat, both under Kota Marudu parliamentary constituency, should be given to Upko,” Siringan said in supporting the request made by the Kota Marudu division.
Upko is one of the three Orang Asal parties in Sabah BN, with the other two being Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) and the Parti Bersatu Rakyat Bersatu (PBRS).
Upko and PBRS broke away from PBS in 1994. Another PBS splinter party is the Chinese-based Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP).