PUTRAJAYA: Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir (pic) has been declared the rightful Menteri Besar of Perak.

The five-man Federal Court bench this morning retained the Court of Appeal's decision pronouncing Zambry, 47, as the lawful MB, ending any hope of his predecessor, Datuk Seri  Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, 52, of the Pakatan pact of DAP-PKR-PAS, reclaiming the post.

Led by Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Alauddin Mohd Sherif, the other members of the bench were Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Arifin Zakaria and Federal Court judges Datuk Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin, Datuk Wira Ghazali Mohd Yusoff and Datuk Abdull Hamid Embong.

The court compound was packed with supporters of both parties, with more than 1,000 turning up. Police personnel, including the Federal Reserve Unit, were also stationed there.

Nizar arrived at 10am, while Zambry was not present.

Nizar had challenged Zambry's appointment and succeeded at the High Court that had ruled that there was a loophole in the Perak Constitution to allow Zambry to be sworn in as MB when Nizar, being the incumbent, had not resigned.

In the decision on May 9 last year, High Court judge Abdul Aziz Rahim had ruled that the Perak Sultan did not have constitutional powers to sack Nizar, and as such, Nizar should still head the State.

Abdul Aziz had also ruled that Nizar, or any MB, can only be dismissed if the State legislative assembly put through a vote of no-confidence.

The Court of Appeal, however, overturned this decision, ruling Abdul Aziz's reading of the law as "wrong" as there was a confusion on the issue of how the MB had lost the majority confidence with the question of if the Sultan had the power to dismiss the head of government.

Nizar, who is the PAS assemblyman for Pasir Panjang, had become the MB after his party, Pas, formed an alliance with DAP and Parti Keadilan Rakyat, to hold majority stake in the State legislative assembly.

He was ousted 11 months later when four Pakatan Rakyat (PR) assemblymen left the alliance.

Bota assemblyman Datuk Nasharuddin Hashim, who had crossed over to PKR, rejoined Umno, while assemblymen for Behrang, Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi, Changkat Jering (Osman Jailu) and Jelapang (Hee Yit Foong) declared themselves as independent candidates friendly to the Barisan Nasional coalition.

Their departure left the PR coaltion with only 28 representatives in the 59-seat State assembly while BN had the same number of members, plus the support of the three Independents.

The controversy was fuelled by the Election Commission's refusal to accept the three resignation letters forwarded by the pro-PR State assembly speaker for Jamaluddin, Osman and Hee.

Nizar was granted an audience with the Sultan of Perak but failed in his effort to convince Sultan Azlan Shah to dissolve the assembly and force a fresh State election.

Nizar was told to resign and Zambry was then appointed as the new MB.