He said the decision was made because the incumbent of the seat, Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing of Barisan Nasional, had performed well and it would be better for him to continue serving the constituency.

"Tiong King Sing had been doing very well as the MP for Bintulu and we felt that we should allow him to continue for another term," Ting, who was the Bintulu MP from 1983 to 1987, told Bernama.

Snap fared badly in the last parliamentary election in 2004, when its candidate, Dr Lau Hieng Kii, lost his deposit after he picked only 2,583 votes against Tiong's 20,225.

Another candidate in that election, Chiew Chin Sing of the DAP, had also stepped aside this time to make way for newcomer Lim Su Kien to mount the party's challenge.

Chiew, in announcing the selection of Lim Thursday, said Lim had shown her potential to become among the new blood to continue the party's struggle.

Tiong, who is also the Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) treasurer-general, has been re-nominated by Barisan Nasional to defend his seat.

Bintulu has a total of 50,684 voters, 46 per cent of whom are Ibans, 29 per cent Chinese, 22 per cent Malay/Melanau and three per cent other races.

-- BERNAMA