The assemblyman for Sebuyau said the win represented a victory for those in the rural and interior heartlands.
He said his rural focus was the reason many members had backed him.
He was quoted by Borneo Post as saying that he would now strive to help PBB move forward and serve the state with the new mandate.
“No matter what the result is today, we will always work as a team.
“I am, however, grateful for the support from party members,” he said after the election.
Julaihi garnered 770 votes, ahead of the three other candidates who took the remaining vice-presidential seats, representing the Bumiputera section of the party.
The three were Assistant Education and Technological Research Minister Annuar Rapaee, who obtained 764 votes, Assistant Rural Electricity Minister Abdul Rahman Junaidi (719 votes) and Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah (698 votes).
The results were announced by PBB election commission chairman Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar, who is also the state assembly speaker, at the party’s convention in Kuching.
There was no election for the other senior party posts.
Chief Minister Abang Johari Abang Openg remains PBB president, while deputy chief ministers Douglas Uggah Embas and Awang Tengah Ali Hasan are deputy presidents.
The party’s two senior vice-president posts are held by federal Works Minister Fadillah Yusof and state Education, Science and Technological Research Minister Michael Manyin Jawong.