KOTA KINABALU: The five-year term of the current 16th Sabah State Assembly will expire automatically a day before its full term on Nov 12, this year, says Sabah Legislative Assembly Speaker Datuk Seri Kadzim Yahya.
He said the start of the five-year term of the current assembly was marked by the first official sitting of the assembly following the 16th state election on Sept 29, 2020.
The 16th Sabah assembly's first sitting, opened by the then Yang Di-Pertua Negeri Tun Juhar Mahiruddin, was held on Nov 12, 2020. As such, the five-year term of the current assembly technically ends a day earlier, on Nov 11, 2025, he said.
"Nov 11, 2025 should be the cutoff date (for expiry of term)," he said when contacted on Sunday (April 20).
Kadzim said the Oct 9, 2020 session was for the swearing in of the newly elected assemblymen and not considered the first day of the 16th assembly sitting.
There has been a degree of confusion over the automatic dissolution of the current 79-member Sabah assembly term, amid speculation that Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor might serve out the full term.
Observers, as well as political circles, widely anticipate the state elections to be called in July, following the month-long Kaamatan celebrations in May and the official birthday celebrations of Yang Negeri Di-Pertua Negeri Tun Musa Aman on Jun 21.
Hajiji, who leads the eight-party Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), was in alliance with Sabah Pakatan Harapan and renegades from Sabah Barisan-Umno, which broke off in a failed political coup against Hajiji in Jan 2023.
Hajiji has kept the guessing game on election dates, often telling reporters he has yet to "dream" about it.
However, political observers believe that Hajiji needs to sort the seat-sharing pact among his key component parties in GRS before opening talks with the four-party Sabah Pakatan and other parties.
Sabah Pakatan's state DAP chairman, Datuk Phoong Jin Zhe, said his party was open to discussions on political cooperation, whether with Barisan or GRS for the coming election.
He said DAP was ready to enter talks if Pakatan were invited to work with either Barisan or GRS, in line with the party's history of collaborating with various political parties in the past.
"We are open to engaging with political parties or any coalition. We've worked with many parties before, but what matters now is that Sabah is facing many challenges and issues," he said on Saturday (April 19), adding that there have been no formal discussions so far.
