This is despite the newly-elected government only managing to secure 18 of the 36 state legislative assembly seats, which is exactly half.

“In our case, despite having 18 seats, which is not a simple majority but exactly half of the state assembly, we are the largest party. Therefore, we have the right to form the state government,” he said in a press conference at 4am today.

PH, under the common PKR flag, secured 18 state seats in the 14th general election (GE14). The remaining seats were won by PAS (15) and Barisan Nasional (3).

Mukhriz, who is also PPBM deputy president, said he was not surprised by the outcome, but more by the fact that PAS won as many seats as they did.

“I am not surprised that Umno and BN lost. The people made the right choice.

“This win we achieved is something we hoped for. There were seats we thought we would have won, but lost. However, there were seats which we won with huge majorities,” he said.

Mukhriz, who is also PPBM deputy president, also admitted the risk of PAS collaborating with BN and was of the view that even if that was very unlikely, they should not delay the setting up of the state government.

“If the collaboration happens, we still think as one solid unit, and that PH is the one that should be given the right to form a new state government,” he said.

In the same press conference, he thanked the party machinery who had worked tirelessly to help save the country.

“This morning, we received such fantastic and extraordinary news of PH’s victory at the federal level. This is an achievement to be proud of.”