In a surprise tweet today, Azmin, who has been relatively quiet since his defeat in the Gombak parliamentary seat in the last general election (GE15), said he needs a rethink.

“To all Malaysians, it is a momentary pause in my public service career that warrants going back to the drawing board. Nevertheless, there remains no let-up in my resolve to serve the nation and the rakyat,” he said.

Azmin, who quit PKR in 2020, played a prominent role in the Sheraton Move that saw the Muhyiddin Yassin-led Perikatan Nasional (PN) take over the government from Pakatan Harapan (PH).

He is still the assemblyman for Bukit Antarabangsa, a seat he won at the 14th general election in 2018.

With this short announcement, it is not clear if the former senior minister in the governments led by Muhyiddin and Ismail Sabri Yaakob will play any role in the key Selangor state elections expected to be called after June. He is widely tipped to lead PN and was expected to be the menteri besar candidate.

Sources had said the former Selangor menteri besar was expected to come back with a vengeance in the state polls to avenge his parliamentary defeat in GE15 by current state menteri besar Amirudin Shari.

Amirudin won the contest by polling 72,267 votes while Azmin obtained 59,538 votes in a six-cornered fight. Analysts said PKR’s campaign of constantly painting him as a political frog who caused PH’s downfall worked against him.

Azmin, a trusted aide of PKR chief Anwar Ibrahim then, won the Gombak seat in 2008. He was the party’s deputy president when he jumped ship.