KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9 ― Perak’s political impasse between Umno and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) appears to have come to an amicable end today.

In a joint statement this afternoon, the two parties and Islamist ally PAS announced that they have reached a consensus “in the spirit of Perikatan Nasional” and will nominate Umno’s Datuk Saarani Mohamad as the new Perak mentri besar.

The statement also said the Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman has “expressed apology on behalf of the Perak BN state assemblymen over the mistake which had happened”, without elaborating.

The statement was signed by the secretaries-general of the three groups: Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin (Bersatu), Tan Sri Annuar Musa (BN) and Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan (PAS).

The trio added that consensus was also reached regarding other appointments in the Perak government.

“In the spirit of Perikatan Nasional, the three parties have agreed to nominate Datuk Saarani Mohamad as the new Perak mentri besar for the approval of the Perak Sultan.

“The three parties also pledged to further strengthen the inter-party cooperation within the Perikatan Nasional government in Perak, and also at the national level, in the interest of political stability and the wellbeing of the people,” they said.

At the moment, Umno has 25 seats, Bersatu five, PAS three, DAP 16, Amanah five, PKR three, Gerakan and an independent one each.

The support of 30 assemblymen is required to secure a simple majority in the Perak legislature.

Bersatu’s Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu was forced to resign as mentri besar after losing a confidence vote 48-10 in the 59-seat Perak state assembly last Friday. The last was a spoilt vote.

The Sultan has held audiences with Perak assemblymen and several party leaders in the past few days to determine who commanded the majority of the 59-seat state assembly, but failed to reach a conclusion yesterday.

Perak Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders had openly signalled their readiness to work with any party, including their political foes, to form a new state government, and disclosed yesterday that negotiations were ongoing.

They also told reporters outside the palace yesterday that Perak PH did not offer any candidate to be the next MB.

However, all three Perak PH component party leaders stopped short of saying if they supported Umno’s choice of Saarani.