Nanta confirmed not to compete against the PRU DUN Sarawak

KUALA LUMPUR, 11 Nov: MP Kapit Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi confirmed that he will remain serving at the parliamentary level and will not contest a seat in the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) in Sarawak state elections next month.

The General Secretary of the Sarawak Joint Party (GPS) said speculation about his desire to compete at the DUN level had previously arisen following a proposal for the creation of a new seat, which is DUN Melekun under the Kapit Parliament.

However, the Minister of Public Works said that the new seat boundaries have not been used for PRN this time because it has not yet been announced.

"Although the Sarawak DUN has approved additional seats, it (the new seat) has not yet been brought to the Lok Sabha for confirmation. So I didn't get a chance to work in this PRN, so I don't have a place (in DUN)", he said when he was found after attending the recording of Bernama TV's edition program at Wisma Bernama here today.

On 7 July 2025, DUN Sarawak passed the State Legislative Assembly (Membership Composition) Bill 2025 which saw an addition of 17 new seats, bringing the total number to 99 DUN seats.

The number of DUN Sarawak seats has been increased periodically from 48 in 1969, to 56 in 1985, 62 in 1995, 71 in 2005 and 82 in 2014.

Nanta, who served as the Member of Parliament for Kapit for six terms, said the lack of competitive opportunities at DUN level is not an issue because the main thing is to continue providing the best service to the people under the existing mandate of Parliament.

Earlier, he had expressed a desire not to retain the Parliamentary seat of Kapit in the upcoming General Election to make way for a leadership transition, as well as opening up space to serve at the state level should DUN Melekun's seat be created.

Asked about reports that GPS would risk 10 percent of new candidates on the PRN, Nanta declined to comment further and insisted the ruling was subject to a decision by the party leadership.

The Election Commission set 12 December as voting day for the Sarawak People's Party, while nomination on 28 November and early voting on 8 December. -TVS