Sabah state election

 Sabah state election

Lau Wei Yiang

​Thomas Koshy​

This year, 2025, Sabah will have a state election. The election has to be called as the state assembly is meeting the five year dateline and will be dissolved automatically. 

The problem with elections in Malaysia is that in Malaysia, politicians decide the date of the elections. They dissolve the Parliament or state assembly at any time to pave the way for elections. The Election Commission then sets the date of the election and in certain circumstances, the government is involved in setting the election dates. 

The previous state election, which took place in 2020, was decided by the Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, who wrote to the Yang di Pertua Negeri of Sabah, to dissolve the state assembly. The reason for the dissolution was to abort a mid-term change of government, in which Perikatan Nasional courted Pakatan Harapan members to jump to their side, changing the government. The Pakataners who jumped ship were promised key posts in government after the coup. This happened in Johor, Melaka, Perak and Kedah, in which all these states changed their government through members of the state assembly crossing the floor, and the federal change of government in 2020 in the Sheraton Move. 

In Sabah in 2020, a group led by Tan Sri Musa Aman attempted to topple the Sabah government in the same manner,  and replace it with a Perikatan Nasional government, with Musa Aman at the helm. At least seven assemblymen from Parti Warisan, the ally of Pakatan Harapan, backed Musa Aman to return as Chief Minister after being ousted in the 2018 state election which was held during GE14. This resulted in Shafie successfully persuading the Yang di Pertua Negeri to dissolve the state assembly. Ultimately, although Perikatan Nasional won the election, Tan Sri Musa Aman and the seven Warisan assemblymen, alongside all the backers from the pre-dissolution squad and the plotters of the coup, did not win a state assembly seat in the 2020 election. 

Because the last election was held in 2020, the year 2025 is the date of the next election.

Thomas Koshy<thomaskoshy082@gmail.com>

​You​

Thank you for the information!