KOTA KINABALU, Sept 28 — Sabah’s new chief minister will be sworn in at the Istana Negeri tomorrow morning, but the identity of the candidate who will take the oath is still not known.
The Sabah State Information Department in a brief statement to the media today said: "For your information, the chief minister's swearing-in ceremony will take place on Sept 29, 2020 at 10.30am at the Sabah Istana Negeri."
The press statement did not reveal who will be sworn in by Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sabah Tun Juhar Mahiruddin.
Following Saturday's Sabah state elections, the ball is now in the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah’s (GRS) court as the newly-formed coalition, comprising Perikatan Nasional (PN), Barisan Nasional (BN) and PBS, successfully secured 38 seats, surpassing the required 37 seats to get a simple majority to form the new government.
On the other side of the political divide, Warisan Plus, consisting of Warisan, DAP, PKR and Upko garnered 32 seats while Independents obtained three seats.
Yesterday, Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) chief Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin and Perikatan Nasional Sabah chief Datuk Hajiji Noor met with the Sabah governor for a short audience.
Both have been touted as the possible chief minister’s candidate, with lengthy negotiations taking place since the election results were announced, suggesting a possible stalemate.
Bung said that the Yang di-Pertua Negeri asked for some time to decide on who will be appointed as the next Sabah chief minister.
Meanwhile, speculation is rife that there will be crossovers from GRS to Warisan Plus, which is led by Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal.
Following the election results, Shafie did not concede defeat as his party won 29 seats alone.
Shafie’s confidence is due to the state constitution which confers that the chief minister post should be picked from the party with the most seats.
Supporters of Shafie have also argued that since Warisan was the largest single party in Saturday's polls, he should be given a chance to form a government first.
