Beruas MP Ngeh Koo Ham has been appointed the speaker of the 14th Perak State Assembly.

The former chairperson of Perak DAP was elected after obtaining 31 votes. He defeated two other candidates, PAS Perak deputy commissioner Mohd Misbahul Munir Masduki, who obtained three votes, and former deputy speaker Nasaruddin Hashim from BN, who received 25 votes.

Ngeh, 57, a lawyer, retained the Beruas parliamentary seat in the 14th general election with a majority of 27,954 votes in a three-cornered fight.

The appointment of the speaker led to some chaos in the assembly for about one hour after State Assembly secretary Kamarulariffin Ayub announced that the names of three candidates were received by the closing date of June 26.

BN's Pengkalan Baru state assemblyperson Abdul Manaf Hashim said he was informed that there were four names, one each from BN and PAS, and two from the state government.

He asked the assembly secretary to announce the name of the fourth candidate but Kamarulariffin declined.

Meanwhile, Behrang state assemblyperson Aminuddin Zulkipli of Amanah was appointed the deputy speaker when no other names were submitted by June 26.

At the one-day sitting, all the 59 state assemblymen took their oath of office, led by Menteri Besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu, in the presence of Ngeh.

The sitting was adjourned sine die.

In GE14, Pakatan Harapan won 29 state seats, BN 27 and PAS three.

However, Harapan obtained the mandate to form the state government after securing a simple majority of 31 seats when two BN assemblypersons expressed their support to the coalition.

- Bernama