Governor says no to snap polls in Malacca, CM must resign

Malacca Governor Mohd Khalil Yaakob has rejected the incumbent Chief Minister Adly Zahari’s request to dissolve the state assembly, said state secretary Hasim Hasan.

He added that the governor has received representations that Adly (above) no longer has the confidence of the majority of the assembly, and would have to resign his post as chief minister.

“On his discretion, the Malacca governor does not agree with the Malacca chief minister’s request to dissolve the state assembly.

“As such, based on Article 7(4) of the Malacca state constitution, the Malacca chief minister would have to resign his post in the state executive committee,” he said in a statement today.

Hasim said the governor will appoint a new chief minister soon, in line with Article 7(2)(a) of the constitution.

In a statement earlier today, Adly said he has proposed to dissolved the state assembly in order to pave way for a snap election, after the Pakatan Harapan lost control of the majority of the state assembly.

The Malacca Harapan government effectively collapsed last week when Bersatu exited the coalition, taking two assemblypersons with them.

Today, two others - DAP's Pengkalan Batu assemblyperson Norhizam Hassan Baktee, who previously described himself as "Hulk", and PKR's Rembia assemblyperson Muhammad Jailani Khamis - also defected.

This gives the new Perikatan Nasional coalition 17 seats in the 28 seat Malacca state assembly.

In the meantime, Adly had called on Malaccans to keep calm.

"I hope everyone can remain calm and obey the law to ensure that the state remains safe and at peace," he said.

The political realignment in Malacca follows a federal coup attempt last week which ultimately ended with a majority of Bersatu leaders teaming with BN and PAS, with support from GPS to take over Putrajaya.