Musa was sworn in at 11pm.

The new Sabah Cabinet was also sworn in tonight.

This is Musa’s fifth term as the chief minister, having being first appointed to the post in 2003 under the rotation system.

He led the Sabah BN to victory in the general election in 2004, 2008 and 2013.

In the Sabah state election yesterday, however, Musa suffered his worst election result after the Sabah BN only obtained 29 out of 60 state seats.

As a comparison, in the previous election in 2013, Sabah BN won 48 seats and added three more after opposition assemblymen defected to BN in the following months.

The opposition alliance between Parti Warisan Sabah and Pakatan Harapan (PH) also won 29 seats while local opposition party, Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR), won two seats in the Keningau federal constituency.

This made STAR the kingmakers but its president, Jeffrey Kitingan, chose to throw its support behind Musa, allowing the Sungai Sibuga assemblyman to form a coalition government between BN and STAR.

Earlier today, there were concerns after United Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) president Madius Tangau brought the party out of BN and sided with Warisan with the hope that the five Upko members who won their seats would follow the party’s decision.

However, the five assemblymen chose to stay put, keeping the number of seats held by BN and STAR intact at 31, giving Musa the simple majority necessary to form the government.