KOTA KINABALU, Feb 18 — The Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) coalition will be discussing seat allocations for the upcoming 17th Sabah State Election (PRN17) at its supreme council meeting this Sunday, said chief minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.

Hajiji, who is GRS chairman, said that this would be one of the key agendas to be discussed at the meeting with representatives from its eight component parties.

“Seat allocation is one of the items on the agenda to be discussed this Sunday,” he said when met after the launch of the Petroleum Storage and Refinery Plant Project at the Sipitang Oil and Gas Industrial Park (SOGIP) at the Sabah International Convention Centre today.

GRS comprises eight component parties — the dominant Parti Gagasan Rakyat with 26 assemblymen, Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) with seven assemblymen, Parti Solidarity Tanah Airku (STAR) with six, Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) and Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah (Harapan Rakyat) with one each, and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), United Sabah National Organisation (USNO) and Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS), which currently do not have any assemblymen.

USNO president Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia recently suggested that GRS contest all 73 state assembly seats, implying they do not need to partner with any other coalition going in.

Hajiji said that they will discuss and decide on that later.

GRS won the last state election in 2020 in an alliance with Barisan Nasional (BN), ousting the Warisan government who was working with Pakatan Harapan (PH) then.

When BN leader Datuk Seri Bung Moktar pulled out support for Hajiji in early 2023, PH stepped in to keep Hajiji in power.

The current administration consists of GRS-PH but it is unclear whether the alliance will continue as the central leadership would prefer a PH-BN collaboration similar to the federal government.