LABUAN, Nov 13 — The fall of the Parti Warisan goverment in Sabah in 2020 was due to the horse-trading culture that led to several assemblymen hopping to other political parties and not because the party lost the citizen’s mandate.

Warisan president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal denied allegations that the party had lost the people’s mandate, causing the Warisan government to fall.

“Actually it wasn’t Warisan that lost the people’s mandate as we had won the state election but because of those who jumped.

“Why those people jumped, I understand that there was some horse-trading going on,” he told reporters after speaking at a 15th general election campaign in Labuan tonight.

He said it would be good if political leaders in the state would stop the culture of blaming the previous government, which just caused the public to be confused.

The former Sabah chief minister said the party hopping culture also exists in Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS).

“Alhamdulillah, GE15 will witness the rise of public support towards Warisan’s struggle in Sabah and Labuan,” he said.

Sabah chief minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor was reported to have said on Nov 11 that the government that did not have the people’s mandate would not last long, like Warisan.

Hajiji said that the previous Warisan administration was not based on the people’s mandate but because there were assemblymen who switched sides, causing the Barisan Nasional (BN) government at the time to fall. — Bernama