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KOTA KINABALU – Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s party colleague Hajiji Mohd Noor will take over as Sabah’s new Chief Minister on Tuesday (September 29), after the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) coalition won. a close state election in Malaysia’s easternmost state. on Saturday (September 26).
GRS, a flexible seven-party alliance led by Tan Sri Muhyiddin, resolved a dead end over its choice of Chief Minister, after being mired in negotiations between allies for nearly 36 hours since the results were announced Saturday night.
The main factions in GRS are Muhyiddin’s Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition, Barisan Nasional, led by Umno, and Parti bersatu Sabah.
Datuk Seri Hajiji was a personal choice of Mr. Muhyiddin, who wanted the Chief Minister of the state to come from PN. However, the Barisan Nasional coalition, the largest among Malaysia’s federal ruling parties, had wanted the position for one of its candidates, Sabah BN chief Bung Moktar Radin.
Despite insisting that Bung, who faces corruption charges in court, should receive the post until Sunday night, BN chief Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on Monday accepted Hajiji’s election as the consensus prime minister. of GRS.
Sabah Governor Juhar Mahirudin delivered an invitation letter for the swearing-in ceremony to Mr. Hajiji on Monday evening. The ceremony will take place at 10.30 am on Tuesday.
GRS, which was concerned about internal friction throughout the campaign, seemed unable to find a solution to the fight, and on Sunday the alliance asked Tan Sri Juhar to resolve the impasse by choosing one of its two candidates.
GRS’s inability to resolve the earlier deadlock appeared to leave a door open for the outgoing chief minister, Shafie Apdal, to form a government. This was because his Parti Warisan Sabah was the party that won the most seats in the state assembly, 29 districts, although it did not reach the minimum majority of 37 necessary seats.
GRS won 38 seats out of 73 on offer, while Warisan and his allies won 32. The independents won 3 seats, but since then the trio have aligned with GRS, supporting GRS numbers at 41.
Earlier Monday, there were rumors that some GRS lawmakers could lend their support to Datuk Seri Shafie, allowing him to return as Chief Minister.
Shafie’s residence saw continued activity since Sunday amid speculation that it could still form the state government, though its Warisan Plus alliance won 32 to GRS ’38.
Warisan lawmakers said they were collecting statutory statements of support from lawmakers, but Shafie and members of his party had been silent about their next move.
In the 2018 state elections, Sabah was sworn in by two different chief ministers in three days. Tan Sri Musa Aman of BN was initially sworn in before Shafie secured several defections and was sworn in two days later.
Shafie left her home later Monday to thank her supporters and the media. When asked by reporters about his Warisan coalition’s next move, Shafie said: “We will serve the people.”
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