Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah Supreme Council member John Ambrose said Upko should not demand seats if the Pakatan Harapan (PH) component had “no chance of winning” them, Daily Express reported.

Gagasan Rakyat is a component of the GRS coalition.

“Everyone wants to be a candidate. Every party wants more seats. But it is the end results that count as to whether one can deliver or not, or else it will drag the whole coalition down,” said Ambrose.

He said Upko only managed to win one seat in the last state election despite contesting 12, when it ran alongside Warisan and other PH components.

He added that Upko only won the Penampang and Tuaran parliamentary seats in the 15th general election because of PH’s support.

“Without the support of PH in Penampang and Tuaran, it would have been an uphill task for Upko as the party was fighting for the same vote bank as GRS components,” he said.

This came after Upko president Ewon Benedick reportedly said the party aims to contest more seats in the next Sabah polls.

Ewon, a federal minister, also called for a fresh formula on seat allocations among parties in the GRS-led Sabah government.

Ambrose said demands should be put on the back-burner while the priority should be on serving the people.

“Seat distributions for the 17th state election should only be discussed when the state assembly is dissolved, and even then, it should be held internally among leaders of the various parties.

“With the state polls only due in more than one-and-a-half years’ time, GRS components and PH partners should concentrate on serving the people and strengthening their parties,” he said.

He cited how Sabah chief minister Hajiji Noor’s focus was on resolving issues with water and electricity supply, among others.