Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu failed to obtain majority support when a motion of confidence was submitted by Pengkalan Bharu State Assemblyman, Datuk Abdul Manaf Hashim during the state assembly sitting which began this morning (Friday, December 4).
Among the 59 state assemblymen, 10 were in support of him while 48 voted against him and one ballot was damaged.
State Assembly Speaker, Datuk Mohamad Zahir Abdul Khalid called for the no confidence vote as proposed by Dr Abdul Aziz Bari (DAP-Tebing Tinggi) with support of Maslin Sham Razman (BN-Bukit Chandan).
While debating on the motion of confidence, Abdul Manaf explained that it was aimed to determine the competency of Ahmad Faizal’s leadership as a Menteri Besar.
He added that it would dispel claims that the present state government practises a backdoor approach.
“The state assembly is the best platform to solve the problem as it is not ideal to hold a state election in the pandemic. There are also claims that UMNO conspired with DAP against the government. Thus, the vote of confidence will determine whether the assemblyman of Chenderiang has a majority in this assembly or not,” he said.
The state assembly is made up of 59 assemblymen from Barisan Nasional (25), Bersatu (5), Pas (3), DAP (16), PKR (3), Amanah (5), Gerakan (1) and Independent (1).
During the morning session, the motion of confidence was proposed to be debated first out of other proposals including those on the state budget. The motion to bring forward the vote was filed by Salbiah Mohamed (BN-Temengor) and Howard Lee Chuan How (DAP-Pasir Pinji) on the basis that a majority would dispel any doubts against the leader of the state government.
The vote counting was witnessed by Datuk Zainol Fadzi Paharudin (Bersatu-Sungai Manik) and representative of the Opposition, Tan Kar Hing (PKR-Simpang Pulai).
The state assembly sitting was adjourned till Wednesday (December 9).
Rosli Mansor
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