2020 vote of no confidence in the Faizal Azumu ministry
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A vote of no confidence in the Malaysian state of Perak National Alliance–National Front (PN–BN) government of Ahmad Faizal Azumu occurred on 4 December 2020. The 'vote of confidence' was initially brought by Abdul Manap Hashim before being called for by the Leader of the Opposition Abdul Aziz Bari and supported by Maslin Sham Razman.[1][2] The vote was subsequently lost by the PN–BN Government by thirty eight votes (10 votes to 48), which was announced at 11:13 am. The result did not, however, necessarily mandate a general election as the outgoing Perak chief minister has the option of advising the Sultan of Perak to dissolve the assembly or, alternatively, appoint an assemblyman who he deems to command the majority. Faizal later confirmed that he would not advise the sultan to dissolve the Perak State Legislative Assembly as the "current situation is not conducive for an election" due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia.[3] This was the fourth instance in which a Malaysian head of government of a state or territory was ousted from office through a confidence vote.[4]
The general election at the beginning of May 2018 resulted in the Alliance of Hope (PH) being voted into power at the vast majority of Peninsular Malaysia's west coast states, including Perak where Faizal was sworn-in as its chief minister.[5][6][7][8] However, the 2020 Malaysian political crisis, triggered by the resignation of then Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU) chairman and prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, led to the subsequent departure from PH by BERSATU in its entirety. This, in turn, caused the PH to lose its majority in multiple states which included Perak, where BERSATU joined hands with the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) to form a new government.[9][10] On 13 March 2020, Faizal was reappointed as chief minister under the new coalition government.[11][12]
It has been speculated that there was widespread unhappiness within the UMNO regarding their treatment by the BERSATU leadership.[13][14][15] Amongst foremost matters within UMNO's Perak chapter was dissatisfaction stemming from the latter's supposed disrespect towards UMNO by allegedly having members from his party dominate the number of appointed positions despite having considerably less assemblymen in the state assembly.[16] According to former BN secretary-general Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, the "final straw" for UMNO was Faizal's unilateral move in October 2020 to appoint Aznel Ibrahim, UMNO's assemblyman for Pengkalan Hulu, as his political secretary without consultation with his party.[17][18][19]
Speaker of the Perak State Legislative Assembly Mohamad Zahir Abdul Khalid announced on 30 November 2020 that he received and accepted a 'motion of confidence' from Abdul Manap Hashim (UMNO–Pengkalan Baharu) on the chief minister which will be tabled in the upcoming assembly sitting.[20][21][22] Amongst the opposition, the People's Justice Party (PKR) was first to announce that it will not back Faizal in the motion.[23] The Government arranged for this motion to be debated after the presentation of the state government budget on Friday 4 December as an Opposition motion in Government time.[24] However, emergency motions were filed by Salbiah Mohamed (UMNO–Temenggor) and Lee Chuan How (DAP–Pasir Pinji) to bring forward the vote to before the budget presentation.[25] The bipartisan move prompted Speaker Zahir Khalid to call for a vote to approve the motions. With a final tally of 45–9, the emergency motions were approved and the vote then began.[26]
Vote
The government lost by thirty eight votes.[27] Ahmad Faizal Azumu stated that he did not anticipate that the large majority of assemblymen from the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a BN component party, would turn against him.[28]
4 December 2020 Vote of confidence in the Faizal Azumu ministry Motion proposed by Abdul Manap Hashim MLA Absolute majority: 30/59 | ||
| Vote | Parties | Votes[29] |
 Aye | 10 / 59 | |
 No |
| 48 / 59 |
| Abstentions |
| 1 / 59 |
| Vacant | (0) | 0 / 59 |
National Front
With relations between UMNO and Faizal's BERSATU fractured at the federal level, the move by the former to remove Faizal from office is seen as not only to showcase UMNO's dissatisfaction towards BERSATU, but also a tit-for-tat move following BERSATU's insistence on holding the office of the Sabah chief minister despite UMNO having more assemblymen in that state. Nonetheless, there was a sole UMNO assemblymen who broke party ranks and voted in support of Faizal.[29] Osman Sapian, BERSATU's former Johor chief minister, quickly threatened retaliation in the Johor State Legislative Assembly.[30] Nonetheless, it is expected that the PN–BN government will remain intact with a different assemblyman as chief minister as UMNO's aim was to force through one of its own into the chief minister's office. Three candidates that are rumoured to be considered by UMNO to take the reins includes former chief minister Zambry Abdul Kadir, UMNO's Perak state chairman Saarani Mohammad, and Shahrul Zaman Yahya.[31]
Alliance of Hope
As the opposition in the assembly, the PH coalition which consisted of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), National Trust Party (AMANAH), and People's Justice Party (PKR), unsurprisingly voted against Faizal. All 24 of PH's assemblymen was confirmed to have voted to have no confidence in Faizal's leadership.[32] Political analysts observed that the vote was likely not a concerted effort between the opposition and UMNO as the PH would have voted similarly regardless as they were unhappy with Faizal's party for triggering the 2020 Malaysian political crisis earlier in 2020.[33] It was also added that the vote can also be seen as the culmination of previous efforts to unseat Faizal that began whilst the latter was still part of the then-PH administration.[34]
National Alliance
All PN assemblymen, four from BERSATU and three from the PAS, voted in support of Faizal with one abstention.[29]
Confidence of Supply
Outside of the PN, BN, and PH coalitions, the Perak state legislative assembly consisted of two other assemblymen of which one is from the Malaysian People's Movement Party (GERAKAN) and the other an independent. It can be noted, however, that prior to the 2020 Malaysian political crisis, both of these assemblymen represented the DAP before resigning from their party to continue in the government.[35][36] Both assemblymen voted in support of Faizal.[29] Following GERAKAN's acceptance into the PN coalition in February 2021,[37] both assemblymen joined BERSATU as associate members in a move that saw GERAKAN losing its sole elected representative to its new ally.[38][39]
