IPOH, Dec 16 — A total of 55 out 59 Perak state lawmakers have backed newly appointed Mentri Besar Datuk Saarani Mohamad in a motion of support.

During today’s state assembly sitting, state Speaker Datuk Mohamad Zahir Abdul Khalid said the motion was brought by Umno’s Trong assemblyman Jamilah Zakaria.

Zahir said the support for Saarani was unanimous.

"I would like to thank all assemblymen for showing maturity during the voting,” he said.

All 55 assemblymen stood in favour of Saarani when the motion was brought to vote.

Saarani did not vote while three assemblymen were absent during the voting.

They were former mentri besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu (Bersatu - Chenderiang), Muhamad Arafat Varisai Mahamad (PKR-Hulu Kinta) and Sandrea Ng Shy Ching (PKR-Teja)

The motion was submitted by Jamilah this morning.

The motion was then supported by Umno’s Belanja assemblyman Khairudin Abu Hanipah.

Saarani was sworn in as the 14th Perak mentri besar on December 10.

This came after the resignation of his predecessor, Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu, earlier this month after he lost the majority confidence of the state assembly.

The Perak Budget 2021 is being tabled by Saarani at the time of writing.

* Editor's note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that all 59 Perak state lawmakers backed Mentri Besar Datuk Saarani Mohamad in a motion of support and has since been corrected.