“Be it DAP, PKR or Amanah, there’s only one candidate for the chief minister post, and that is the Warisan president,” he said at a function.
Shafie’s comments came amid reports that PPBM president Muhyiddin Yassin had suggested Sabah PPBM chairman Hajiji Mohd Noor as a possible candidate for chief minister if they form the next state government.
Muhyiddin said the proposal would however require an agreement with other parties aligned to PPBM.
However, BN chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said they will only nominate a chief minister once they win the elections.
Earlier, Sabah Umno chief Bung Moktar Radin, who will be contesting the Lamag state seat, had been reported as the potential candidate for the state’s top post.
Umno is contesting a total of 31 seats and PPBM 19 seats.
On former chief minister Musa Aman’s absence from the state elections, Shafie said he was not surprised.
“Anything can happen. I have not seen him since they lost in the last general election. And I think he has not been to his own area. I don’t know what his intentions are.”
He added that he believed there was a disagreement over the allocation of seats in the party. “Whatever it is, whether he is in or out, to us we have to win this election,” Shafie said.
Musa, whose claim that he had a simple majority to form a new state government, triggered a political crisis, leading to this month’s snap polls.
He failed to turn up at the Libaran multipurpose hall, where nominations were held for the Sungai Manila state seat.
He was the incumbent for Sungai Sibuga but had expressed interest in contesting in Sungai Manila, one of the 13 newly created seats in the Libaran parliamentary constituency.
Meanwhile, Warisan deputy president Darell Leiking has maintained Warisan Plus’ stance in backing Shafie as their sole chief minister candidate.
He said Warisan Plus “has no arguments” over who to nominate as the chief minister unlike the opposition which was “still arguing over it”.
“DAP, PKR, Amanah as well as Upko have pledged that there is only one person who will lead us and that is Shafie,” he was reported as saying.
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