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KUALA LUMPUR – Pahang regent Tengku Mahkota Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah has consented for Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Harapan (PH) to form the new state government with Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail retained as the menteri besar.
In a brief statement issued by the Pahang Sultan’s Household Comptroller Datuk Ahmad Khirrizal Ab Rahman, the decision was reached after Tengku Hassanal granted audience to political parties’ heads that take part in the 15th general election (GE15) last Saturday.
“The swearing-in ceremony of Pahang menteri besar will be held at 11am Monday (November 28) at the Balairung Seri, Istana Abu Bakar in Pekan,” the statement reads.
Pahang has 42 seats in the state legislative assembly, but only 41 seats were contested in GE15 due to the death of Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) Tioman candidate Md Yunus Ramly, which resulted in the election for the state seat being postponed to December 7.
Regardless, the result of the seat’s election would not change the political impasse in the state, as PN won 17 seats in the recently concluded election, followed by BN with 16, while PH has eight.
Previously, BN held separate talks with PN and PH to discuss the possibility of forming a state government with either coalition.
However, after a series of talks, BN and PN failed to reach a consensus on forming the state government.
PN’s state chairman Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah had said that BN had demanded the menteri besar post, as well as seven state councillor appointments for the coalition, leaving PN with a single exco post if the BN-PN state government were to be formed. – The Vibes, November 27, 2022