KUALA LUMPUR, Dec. 13 -- Detailed polling-stream analysis of the recent Sabah state election shows that voters strongly favoured local parties, but preferred those aligned with the federal government, according to Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

Saifuddin said the analysis went beyond broad constituency results and examined voting patterns down to individual polling streams across all state seats.

"The most important signal is that Sabahans strongly prioritised local parties - the 'Sabah for Sabahans' sentiment.

"That is the first clear fact," he said, adding that the biggest beneficiaries of this sentiment were Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and Parti Warisan.

However, he said further analysis showed that when GRS an...