Kiandee defends Beluran seat on PN ticket, setting up clash with BN in five-cornered fight

KUALA LUMPUR: Bersatu-vice president Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee will defend his Beluran parliamentary seat in the 15th general election (GE15) under the Perikatan Nasional (PN) ticket.

The five-term Beluran MP was dropped from Gabungan Rakyat Sabah’s (GRS) list of candidates after the coalition made way for Barisan Nasional to field its candidate Benedict Asmat in the seat.

“I’m contesting on the PN ticket. This is a party that has components on a national and state level. This is a good platform to fight for the aspirations of Beluran at the federal level,” he told reporters at the Beluran nomination centre.

Kiandee did not comment when asked about GRS chairperson Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor’s reaction to him breaking ranks to contest Beluran against the coalition’s wishes, only to say that he is still a member of GRS.

In Sabah, Bersatu is a component member of the GRS coalition. Bersatu members are contesting GE15 under the GRS logo.

GRS and BN had agreed to cooperate for GE15, which saw them sharing the 25 parliamentary seats in Sabah. GRS will contest in 13 seats, while BN will contest in 12 seats, including Beluran.

Beluran will see a five-cornered fight between Kiandee (PN), Benedict Asmat (BN-Umno), Rowiena Rasid (Parti Warisan), Hausing Samsudin @Sudin (Pejuang) and Felix Joseph Saang (PH-UPKO).

In GE14, Kiandee won the seat under the Umno ticket with a 7,115 majority. He left the party to join Bersatu in December 2018.