KOTA KINABALU, Sept 28 — The residence of Parti Warisan Sabah president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal has been a hotbed of activity since early this morning as people waited for the Head of State to confirm who will be Sabah’s next chief minister.

Talks among the Warisan Plus allied assemblymen whispers of a plan to defend its spot as State government even as the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah alliance announced that it has reached a consensus to put Perikatan Nasional Sabah chief Datuk Hajiji Noor as chief minister after 36 hours of negotiations.

A Warisan leader at the residence who was inside with some assemblymen told Malay Mail that a statutory declaration is currently being signed, but declined to reveal what or for who the SD’s were for.

If all the Warisan Plus assemblymen signed SDs in support of Shafie as chief minister, it would still put them nine people behind GRS’s 41 assemblymen, assuming the latter was completely intact.

The leader said that the SD’s is expected to be delivered to Sabah governor Tun Juhar Mahiruddin later today.

Assemblymen and other leaders and supporters have been gathering at Shafie’s Yayasan Sabah residence since this morning.

Earlier today GRS announced that it had finally reached a consensus from all to support Hajiji as its chief minister.

His closest rival for the position Sabah Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin also backed him, citing the bigger picture of taking over the government.

Shafie has yet to address the public since the early hours of September 27 where he said Warisan still had the most number of seats, leading to speculation that he is not conceding defeat.

In the polls, Warisan Plus won 29 seats while its allies PKR won two and Upko, one seat.

GRS, as the coalition won 38 seats from its components - PN with 17, BN with 14 and PBS with seven seats. However, GRS is only a loose alliance and not a registered political party.

Earlier The Star reported that PBS secretary-general Datuk Jahid Jahim has arrived at the Istana Negeri to handover 41 statutory declarations in support of the candidate for chief minister, believed to be Hajiji.