KEPALA BATAS, May 12 – Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today that Barisan Nasional (BN) is open to forming a grand coalition for the upcoming Sabah state election.

However, the BN chairman insisted that state seats previously lost through defection must be returned to the coalition.

“One of our principles is to reclaim any seat previously won by Umno, but where the elected representative has since defected to another party,” he was reported saying by New Straits Times.

He added that several seats were initially allocated to Umno but were later contested by former party members due to last-minute changes.

“However, at the last minute, there was some manipulation, which resulted in four of those seats being contested by former Umno leaders,” he added.

This comes as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim recently suggested a possible alliance between Pakatan Harapan (PH), BN, and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) in the 17th Sabah state election.

Anwar, who is also PH chairman and PKR president, had said during a visit to Tawau that cooperation among the three coalitions is important for national stability and the political situation in Sabah.

Zahid said BN would assess the implications of Anwar’s announcement and would work to resolve any disagreements among the coalitions to avoid overlapping candidacies.

“Most importantly, we want to ensure that the seats we contest do not overlap,” he added, reaffirming the coalition’s focus on the formation of a grand alliance.

Earlier, Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) has reportedly said it is open to working with other political coalitions, including PH, if such cooperation promotes political stability and benefits local voters.

On Friday, PH secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and Unity Government Secretariat chief Datuk Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki announced in a joint statement that PH and BN had agreed to work together in facing the next Sabah state election.

Following the announcement, Hajiji said GRS would contest the election independently if the Peninsular-based coalitions proceed with their alliance.