He took his oath of office at Seri Mutiara at 9.38am today after he was invited by governor Fuzi Razak to form the new state government.

Yesterday, the Penang Pakatan Harapan (PH) chief heralded the state election result as “significant” despite Perikatan Nasional (PN) having gained more control in the Malay heartlands of the state.

PH-BN won 29 seats while PN won 11 in the 40-seat state assembly.

DAP won all 19 seats it contested, PKR won seven of the 13 seats contested, and Amanah retained one out of two seats

PH ally BN won two of the six seats it contested, including the victory by Umno’s Rashidi Zinol in Sungai Acheh with a razor-thin 124-vote majority over PN’s Zulkifli Ibrahim, who won the seat on a PH ticket in the 14th general election (GE14) in 2018 before leaving PKR for Bersatu.

The other seat was won in Bertam by Umno’s Reezal Merican Naina Merican, who beat PN’s Khaliq Mehtab Ishaq with a 2,321-vote majority.

For PN, PAS contested 10 seats and won seven, while Bersatu contested 11 and won four.

In GE14, PH won 37 seats, with Bersatu as part of the coalition then. BN won two seats, and PAS one.

In yesterday’s polls, Chow, 65, won the Padang Kota seat with a 7,116-vote majority over PN’s H’ng Khoon Leng.

Chow, who is also the Batu Kawan MP, has held the Padang Kota state seat since 2008.

He began his political career in 1986 when he became Lim Kit Siang’s political secretary. Three years later, he was appointed Penang DAP assistant secretary.

His first foray as an elected representative came when he won the Pengkalan Kota state seat in the 1990 general election. He defeated  Barisan Nasional’s Dr Loh Hock Hun with a 3,670-vote majority.

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