SIBU: PKR will contest 47 of the 82 seats in the coming 12th Sarawak state election with new faces making up the majority of its candidates, its state secretary Joshua Jaben.

       He said when contacted on Sunday (Nov 14) that the party will also field six women candidates, up from three in the last state election.

       "Many of our candidates are new faces as some old ones are katak (frogs) who jumped. This is good for us as we have new challenges (for) the new faces," he said.

       He also said the seat allocation was based on negotiations with its Pakatan Harapan coalition partners DAP and Parti Amanah Negara.

       "The seat allocation is based on a (strategy) that PKR will continue to contest in the rural seats, DAP in the urban areas as they have a better chance to win, while Amanah will go for Muslim-majority seats," he said.

       Joshua said the coalition is still intact in the state with no problem among its components.

       "We have learned a hard lesson from the Sheraton Move. We have nothing to do with former PKR leaders anymore.

       "We are now working on our own and putting in an effort together to win seats," he said.

       On his own candidacy, Joshua said he will again be contesting in Kakus where he lost in the last election.

       Joshua added that acting Sarawak PKR chairman Abang Zulkifli Abang Engkeh will contest in Beting Maro.