DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang said Stephen had a firm footing there after having beaten Barisan Nasional’s (BN) VK Liew by a margin of 1,088 votes in the general election of May 2013.
His announcement at DAP’s 52nd anniversary celebration in Sandakan today put to bed speculation that Stephen would swap seats with Kota Kinabalu MP Jimmy Wong for the upcoming polls.
In January, Stephen and Jimmy had denied that they were at loggerheads with each other, saying it was “water under the bridge”.
They also dismissed rumours of friction within the party and insisted they were on good terms with one another.
Stephen was elected chairman of Sabah DAP at its convention in November 2015, defeating Jimmy, who was the incumbent.
Lim, who is Gelang Patah MP, also announced that Calvin Chong Ket Kiun and Frankie Poon Ming Fung would respectively run for the Elopura and Tanjung Papat state seats, which are within the Sandakan constituency.
Lim said Chong had lost in a three-cornered race with candidates from Barisan Nasional (BN) and SAPP for the Karamunting state seat in the last election in May 2013 by a close margin of 855 votes, with BN’s Charles Pang Su Pin emerging the winner.
Poon would be making his second attempt to grab the Tanjung Papat seat after having been defeated there by BN’s Raymond Tan Shu Kiah by 1,522 votes in 2013.
DAP bulldozing in Sabah will bring down opposition, says deputy CM