James Chin of the University of Tasmania said that with GRS also a key partner in Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government, he expected some sort of deal to be reached with BN and PH, which had announced an alliance on Friday.
“My guess is that the deal is going to be quite simple: seats will be allocated to everybody but there will be a ‘free for all’ in some seats,” he told FMT. “There would be two types of seats: those negotiated between the coalitions, and the other open to contest by any of the parties.”
On Friday, GRS threatened to contest the state elections on its own, after PH and BN announced a pact, with GRS chairman Hajiji Noor stating that local Sabah parties should be the backbone and head of the state government.
However, PH chairman Anwar expressed optimism yesterday, after meeting Hajiji, that the three coalitions would be able to reach an electoral agreement. He also said PH has given Hajiji its full support to lead discussions on the potential three-coalition alliance.
Sabah Umno and GRS have been in enmity ever since the former retracted support for Hajiji as chief minister in January 2023. Hajiji stayed in power thanks to the backing of Sabah PH and a handful of Umno assemblymen who refused to withdraw support.
Another analyst, Bilcher Bala of Universiti Malaysia Sabah, said the three coalitions must discuss joining forces, even if it meant sacrificing seats, as multi-cornered fights would split their votes and work in the favour of other parties such as Warisan and Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat which have decided to go solo.
Bilcher also said an early dissolution of the state assembly would benefit GRS as it could ride on its current momentum as the ruling coalition while preventing its rivals from arranging their strategies.
This includes PH-BN, if talks on a pact with GRS fizzle out, he said.
“While waiting longer to call for elections may give GRS time to strengthen its position and better prepare its election machinery, it also gives their rivals time to strengthen themselves.”
Chin said the date of the elections would not make much difference. However, he did not expect the state assembly to be dissolved quickly as seat talks have not even started.