Political analysts believe both parties will be able to mount a better challenge in future polls given time and the right affiliation.
Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) senior lecturer Lee Kuok Tiung noted the polls would be a perfect yardstick for both parties to assess what they needed to do to gain more support from the people before the next election.
“Of course there is a future for both parties. But history shows that you must have a political coalition or alliance (in order to win seats). They won’t make much of an impact if they continue to go at it alone,” he told FMT, adding that the snap polls had also left all parties unprepared.
“If they (LDP and PCS) had more time to promote their parties and candidates, I think they could have made more of an impact.
“For now, they need to consolidate their parties – start grooming future leaders and potential candidates. There should also be no ad-hoc or parachute candidates.”
Touted as “third force” parties, PCS and LDP were considered to be the closest challengers to the bigger Warisan Plus and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) coalitions compared with the other smaller parties.
However, despite having veteran politicians leading them – former foreign minister Anifah Aman for PCS and former chief minister Chong Kah Kiat for LDP – none of their candidates managed to gain even one seat during the Sept 26 state election.
A majority of the candidates in both parties lost their deposits including Chong who contested in the Inanam seat.
However, PCS president Anifah came in second in the four-way battle for the Bongawan seat which was eventually won by Warisan’s Daud Yusof.
Sabah UiTM’s Tony Paridi Bagang noted that while the state polls were a bitter pill for both parties to swallow, PCS and LDP have to accept their defeat as part of the process and improve on their weaknesses over time.
He believes, however, that both parties were also at some disadvantage going into the polls.
“For example, PCS had just started to rebrand the party and people were still not aware about them. They need to continue the rebranding and at the same time restrategise their approach.
“Likewise, LDP has to do some soul searching and come back strong by offering something fresh. Perhaps, the party could consider having some strategic alliance with either Warisan Plus or GRS,” he said.
During the Sabah polls campaign, the underlying theme by both parties was on having Sabah’s rights restored as per the Malaysia Agreement 1963. At the same time, PCS and LDP took the approach that they would be supportive of the federal government in order to resolve the long-standing state rights issues.
PCS contested in all 73 seats while LDP contested 46 seats, with both parties steadfast in their desire to remain independent of any coalition or other partnership in last month’s polls.