“We are a democratic country. We cannot stop their intentions, so it is up to Pejuang.

“However, from my point of view, based on the previous elections in the peninsula, Pejuang lost badly.

“If they still want to expand to Sabah, I can see that Sabahans won’t be interested,” he said at a breaking-of-fast ceremony with the media and Tahfiz Pertubuhan Rumah Amal Selawat Nabi Sandakan at a hotel in Sandakan.

Pejuang president Mukhriz Mahathir said this week the party intended to contest in Sabah in GE15.

He said Sabah Pejuang, which would be officially launched on May 22, planned to expand to all 25 Sabah parliamentary constituencies as part of its preparations for GE15.

He said Pejuang currently had 16 branches in Sabah, making it the state with the third-highest number of members, after Kedah and Selangor.

According to a report by the Daily Express, Bung, who is also the Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman, said Umno’s decision to retain every party seat in GE15 was decided during the party’s last general assembly.

He said it was decided that Umno would vie for all the parliamentary seats it contested in the last elections.

“This includes the seats where the elected representatives later jumped to other parties.

“We cannot hand over our seats to any party for free. Maybe we can negotiate, but Umno insists that these seats belong to BN and should only be contested by it.

“This decision was supported by all Umno grassroots members,” he said.