While he did not touch on GRS, Loke said DAP had a preliminary agreement with BN at the state level for his party to field a candidate in Kemabong while Umno contests the Liawan seat.

“But, in the end, BN said they still want to contest in Kemabong. That’s why, at BN’s request, I did not announce (DAP’s Kemabong candidate) last Saturday (when DAP unveiled its Sabah election candidates).

“We thought that we could still negotiate the matter, but in the end, BN still said they wanted to field a candidate in Kemabong. So we have no choice.

“Nonetheless, we will not field additional candidates in other constituencies, including Liawan,” he told FMT at the nomination centre for the Tanjung Aru seat here this morning.

Loke pointed out that DAP was only contesting two additional seats from the six it won in the 2020 state election.

He said DAP’s Kemabong candidate, Noorita Sual, a senator, had significant influence in the constituency having served as the MP for Tenom, where Kemabong is located, for a term.

“We feel that it’s our grassroots’ wish (for DAP to contest in Kemabong). So, we cannot give way to others for the seat,” he said.

Loke said the clash with BN and GRS was just a friendly contest and would not hamper the relations between Pakatan Harapan and the two coalitions.

“There are several seats where we could not reach a consensus, so there are friendly contests there,” he said, adding that the political culture in Sabah was not the same as West Malaysia’s.

“Although there are seats where we’re clashing with our allies, we will campaign positively. We will campaign based on the capabilities of our candidates. We want to promote them and let voters make the decision,” he said.

GRS is fielding Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah vice-president Rubin Balang in Kemabong as he seeks to be elected to a sixth term as its assemblyman.

BN is fielding Rahmah Jan Sulaiman from Umno.

PH previously reached separate electoral pacts with both BN and GRS for this state election.