PEKAN, Nov 28 — Jelai state assemblyman Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail took the oath of office as mentri besar of Pahang for the second term today.

The ceremony was held before the Regent of Pahang Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah at Balairung Seri Istana Abu Bakar here.

Also present were Tengku Arif Bendahara Tengku Muhammad Iskandar Ri'ayatuddin Shah Al-Sultan Abdullah and State Secretary Datuk Seri Dr Sallehuddin Ishak.

Wan Rosdy, who is Pahang Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Pahang was selected to helm the Pahang state administration for the first time on May 15, 2018, replacing the 14th mentri besar of Pahang Tan Sri Adnan Yaakob.

In the 15th General Election (GE15), Wan Rosdy, who is also the Cameron Highlands Umno division leader, retained the Jelai state seat for the fifth term with a majority of 6,983 votes.

Wan Rosdy's appointment received the consent of Tengku Hassanal, who also consented to the formation of a BN and Pakatan Harapan (PH) state government after no party obtained a simple majority of 22 seats to form a state government on its own after GE15.

In the election, BN won 16 seats, one less than Perikatan Nasional (PN), while PH won eight seats.

There are 42 seats in the Pahang state assembly, but voting for GE15 for the Tioman state seat was postponed to Dec 7 following the death of PN candidate Md Yunus Ramli, 61, on the polling day last Nov 19.

Even with the election result of the Tioman seat, no party can still get a simple majority to form a state government. — Bernama