KUCHING: Sarawak PKR has confirmed that it will contest 27 seats in the state election, down from the 47 it was allocated in Pakatan Harapan's seat deal.

       State PKR secretary Joshua Jabeng said the rationale for the reduction was to focus on winnable seats rather than contesting every seat.

       He also said there would be no clashes with Pakatan partner DAP in the polls.

       "The better way forward is to focus on winning, not contesting just for the sake of contesting.

       "In the spirit of Harapan, we will not overlap (with DAP). We are partners and we will not stab each other in the back," he told a press conference when announcing the PKR candidates here on Friday (Dec 3).

       PKR was initially set to contest 47 seats, DAP (26) and Parti Amanah Negara (9) in a Pakatan agreement signed on Jan 2.

       There had also been overlapping claims with DAP in three seats - Kemena, Piasau and Senadin - but this has been resolved with PKR choosing not to field candidates there.

       State PKR election director Dominique Ng said the reduction in seats meant that Pakatan would not field candidates in all 82 seats in the polls.

       He said this was a change in strategy from previous elections as PKR needed to be more pragmatic due to its limited resources.

       "In the past, we were trying to deny Barisan Nasional at that time any uncontested win. But now it seems that there are a lot of other parties.

       "So, we decided to reduce our seats because we need to be realistic in our expectations and concentrate on the seats where we have a chance of winning," he said.

       Meanwhile, Joshua also said PKR was not working with Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) to prevent multi-cornered fights against the ruling Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) coalition.

       "(There is) no deal with PSB. They are not in the Pakatan coalition," he said.

       Ng added that there were some seats where PKR would be contesting against PSB, such as Batu Lintang.

       The PKR candidates are:

       1) Opar - Meneng Biris

       2) Tupong - Ahmad Nazib Johari

       3) Satok - Nor Dahlia Esapian Eyau

       4) Batu Lintang - Cherishe Ng Phuay Hui

       5) Asajaya - Mahmud Epah

       6) Serembu - Michael Sawing

       7) Tarat - Christo Michael

       8) Tebedu - Senior William Rade

       9) Sadong Jaya - Piee Ling

       10) Lingga - Abang Abdul Kasim Abang Bujang

       11) Beting Maro - Abang Zulkifli Abang Engkeh

       12) Saribas - Patrick Kamis

       13) Bukit Saban - Mikail Mathew Abdullah

       14) Ngemah - Satu Anchom

       15) Machan - M Fauzi @ Joseph Usit

       16) Tellian - Mohd Arwin Abdullah

       17) Balingian - Abdul Jalil Bujang

       18) Kakus - Joshua Jabeng

       19) Katibas - Munan Laja

       20) Murum - Ani Amat

       21) Bekenu - Norhafizah Johari

       22) Lambir - Zolhaidah Suboh

       23) Marudi - Elias Lipi

       24) Telang Usan - Philip Jau Ding

       25) Mulu - Roland Engan

       26) Batu Danau - Racha Balang

       27) Ba'Kelalan - Martin Samuel Labo