PETALING JAYA, Sept 22 — With less than 18 hours to go before a new Mentri Besar is to be sworn in, Azmin Ali, rumoured to be the Sultan’s choice said today he has yet to receive any notification from the palace.

“There is still 24 hours,” he told reporters who were camped out at the PKR headquarters after The Star reported that he would be meeting Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim here.

The PKR deputy president also denied the de facto leader was at the meeting and said it was a regular leadership meeting.

Rumours are rife that Azmin would be sworn in tomorrow, replacing current Mentri Besar, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.

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PKR and the DAP had nominated just PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as MB, while PAS sent in an undisclosed list of candidates, which reportedly did not include Dr Wan Azizah.

Malay daily Berita Harian reported today that Azmin is expected to be sworn in as the new Selangor mentri besar tomorrow.

Citing unnamed sources, the paper reported that the Selangor palace had initially picked PAS’ Iskandar Samad for the post but the assemblyman turned down the offer, allegedly due to health reasons.

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“The palace will only announce Azmin’s appointment tomorrow (today) through a press statement or a press conference with His Royal Highness’ consent,” the anonymous source was quoted as saying.

“Then, the appointment of six new state executive councillors will be done on Friday, while the four executive councillors from PAS will be retained,” the source added.

English-language daily The Star reported Saturday that Azmin, as well as PAS state executive councillors Iskandar and Dr Ahmad Yunus Hairi, were interviewed by the Selangor palace separately last week on their potential to be the next mentri besar.

Iskandar, who is Selangor PAS commissioner and Cempaka assemblyman, and Dr Ahmad Yunus, PAS’s Sijangkang assemblyman, were two of the three individuals named by PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang in the party’s list of potential mentri besar candidates to the Sultan.

Dr Wan Azizah was reportedly not among those interviewed by the Selangor Sultan, despite having obtained majority support of the 56-seat state legislative assembly through statutory declarations from 30 assemblymen.

PKR secretary-general Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said in a statement yesterday that Dr Wan Azizah remained the party’s sole MB nominee.