KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 6 — Three names have been shortlisted by Perak Umno leaders to be nominated as the new state Mentri Besar following the fall of Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu, who failed to garner majority support in a vote of confidence last Friday.
According to sources quoted by Malaysiakini, the three candidates were Perak Umno chief Datuk Saarani Mohamad, former mentri besar Datuk Seri Zambry Kadir and Rungkup assemblyman Datuk Shahrul Zaman Yahya.
The source said Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was tasked with making the decision after a meeting was convened at the state party headquarters in Ipoh last night.
“It looks to be leaning towards Saarani as Umno state chief, but Zambry has the experience,” the source was quoted as saying.
Zambry previously served as mentri besar from May 2009 until May 2018.
However, Umno leaders were tight-lipped about their candidate and refused to comment when met after the meeting yesterday.
In the vote of confidence towards Ahmad Faizal on Friday in the Perak state assembly, he lost the vote as a combined 48 state assemblymen from Umno and PH voted against him, while only 10 voted in his favour (four from Bersatu, three from PAS, two from Umno and the remaining two independent), while the last vote was a spoilt vote.
The motion was brought by Datuk Abd Manap Hashim (BN-Pengkalan Baru) to prove Ahmad Faizal had the support of all 59 assemblymen as the mentri besar.
The Perak Legislative Assembly has 25 Barisan Nasional assemblymen, all from Umno, DAP (16), Amanah (5), Bersatu (5), PKR (3), PAS (3), while Gerakan and Independent has one seat each.
The same day, PAS also made a stand of not joining the effort to form the new Perak government.
This is the second time Ahmad Faizal resigned as the Perak mentri besar after submitting his resignation in March this year as the Pakatan Harapan (PH) mentri besar before reappointed for the same post under the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.
