WITH Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) winning a simple majority in Sabah, the focus now shifts to the question of who will be the new chief minister. 

In the run-up to the elections, Umno and Bersatu – both allies in GRS – have been at odds on the coveted post. 

Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin started the ball rolling by naming the party’s Sabah chief Hajiji Mohd Noor for the role. 

However Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi objected to this on the same day, saying that the decision on the chief minister must be made by BN reps and their political allies post-election. 

Sabah Umno chief Bung Moktar Radin’s name had been raised as a potential BN choice. 

Both Hajiji and Bung Moktar won their seats today.

The 65-year-old Hajiji, who is also Sabah PN chairman, retained his Sulaman state seat held since 1990 with a 3,099 vote-majority in a three-cornered fight.

Sabah BN chairman Bung Moktar meanwhile defeated Warisan candidate Mohd Ismail Ayub by 661 votes to win the Lamag seat in a five-cornered fight.

Bung Moktar, 61, is also Kinabatangan MP.

In the official outcome of the state polls as posted in the Election Commission website at midnight, GRS won 38 seats, enabling them to form a new state government.

Their closest rival Warisan won 29 seats, and their allies PKR and Upko won two and one seat respectively. This gives them a total of 32 seats overall.

Independents won three seats.

GRS is made up of Perikatan Nasional, which won 17 seats, Barisan Nasional (14) and Parti Bersatu Sabah (7). – September 26, 2020.