State PH deputy chief Stephen Wong said a preliminary meeting had been held with Warisan representatives.
“There has been one round of talks among us and we have to reach some common ground,” Wong, the Sabah DAP chief, told FMT today.
Wong said he personally would like to see a seat deal with Warisan being worked out early so that the parties could focus their attention on their respective constituencies.
“We really don’t have much time until the election is held, it’s just a matter of months and every day counts,” he said, adding that Sabah PH components PKR, DAP and Amanah had reached a consensus among themselves.
Wong said Sabah voters did not want to see a repeat of the 2013 election which saw multi-cornered contests in almost all seats after the opposition failed to unite to take on the Barisan Nasional (BN).
“The common perception is that BN stands to gain in multi-cornered contests,” he said.
Wong said his statement last week in calling for Warisan to contest 60% of the state seats with PH taking the remainder was only a suggestion to get the negotiations going between them.
“It was not aimed at putting pressure on anyone and neither was it an ultimatum. Any discussion should have a starting point,” he added.
Following that statement, Warisan deputy president Darell Leiking said the party was surprised by Wong’s remarks and said any plan had to be discussed between PH and Warisan before it was announced.
Sabah PH chairman Christina Liew responded quickly by saying Wong’s statement did not reflect the coalition’s stance.
Wong said DAP wanted to field candidates in the eight state seats it had contested in the 2013 polls, namely Kepayan, Elopura, Karamunting, Tanjung Papat, Sri Tanjung, Malalap, Likas and Luyang.
The party was also keen to contest in two interior seats – Sook and Bingkor – where Wong said it had been reaching out to the communities there over the past five years.
In the 2013 polls, DAP won Kepayan, Sri Tanjung, Likas and Luyang.
However, Hiew King Cheu of Luyang later defected to MCA while Edwin Bosi of Kepayan signed up with Parti Anak Negeri.