Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg said BN will have to take into consideration candidates in the peninsula and Sabah as well if it were to adopt the direct candidate formula in GE14, he said after opening the Kampung Kudei Lama/Baru steel bridge in Jalan Rubber West here today.
Asked whether as the state BN chairman, he had absolute power to decide on the party candidates from Sarawak contesting in GE14, Abang Johari replied: “Not absolute.”
The direct candidate formula was inspired by the former chief minister, the late Adenan Satem.
It was applied by the Sarawak BN during the state election in 2016.
Direct candidates refer to those from any BN-friendly party given the privilege to contest under the BN ticket, provided they resigned from their respective parties.
The adoption of the formula also saw BN securing a landslide victory in the 11th Sarawak state election with the party’s direct candidates winning 11 out of the 13 seats contested.