The division’s head, Mandik Yadam, said a special divisional meeting was held two days ago where the leadership agreed not to field a candidate for the Kuamut seat and to support the GRS candidate instead.

“We respect the party president’s stand, but at the grassroots level, we choose to stay with Kuamut GRS, led by Masiung Banah.

“This is to ensure political stability and the continuity of development in Kuamut and Tongod,” Mandik said, according to Utusan Borneo.

Masiung, a vice-president of chief minister Hajiji Noor’s Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah, has been Kuamut assemblyman since 2008. He was formerly with Upko but left the party after the 2018 general election to become an independent assemblyman.

The former state minister contested as an independent candidate in the 2020 state polls and won the seat with a 978-vote majority. He joined Gagasan Rakyat in 2023.

STAR and the Sabah Progressive Party left GRS last week due to the state ruling coalition’s electoral pact with Pakatan Harapan.

Mandik, who is deputy chairman of Kuamut GRS, said STAR should continue cooperating with the coalition in Kuamut as Masiung had been central to development planning for the Tongod district.

“We have had nearly five years of political stability here without any splits. It would be wrong to abandon a struggle that is not yet finished,” he said.

Analysts previously warned of splits in STAR should the party leave GRS, predicting that several party divisions would break ranks with Kitingan.