DAP has accepted the people’s verdict in the just concluded 11th Sarawak state election.

"DAP has lost the battle in the election and we accept the defeat and the verdict of the people," Sarawak DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen told a press conference at the party’s headquarters here Saturday night.

He admitted that the results were a setback for the party and the supporters but that would not deter them from continuing with their struggle to provide an alternative for Sarawakians.

"It is a defeat for us (DAP) and we will pick up the pieces and move on," said Chong who retained his Kota Sentosa seat.

He said the low turnout was one of the reasons that resulted in the loss of seats by the party in the election, but added that not a very large number of Chinese votes went to Barisan Nasional.

"Only five percent of Chinese votes went to BN. We will do our post mortem and analyse the results, factors of the defeat so as to improve ourselves and return to the ground stronger and get better results."

Asked whether the defeat was due to fighting with PKR, Chong said the issue will be discussed during the post-mortem.

On the party's venture into rural seats, Chong said that it was the right decision by the party but admitted that rural politics wasn't easy.

"We learn to improve, discuss and analyse it," he said.

Chong thanked his supporters who had voted him back for the Kota Sentosa seat, and promised them to continue with the struggle to do check and balance on the government.