Both Shafie Apdal, incumbent Chief Minister and leader of Sabah Heritage Party (WARISAN) and Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition government and Musa Aman, leader of Perikatan Nasional (PN) and Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition opposition claimed to have the majority to form the government.

[3] The state election was conducted under the New Normal and special standard operating procedures (SOP) imposed by the Electoral Commission (EC) as the country is still observing the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) due to COVID-19 pandemic.

This count, however, did not include six seats from United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation (UPKO) and four from UMNO that switched allegiance from Musa to Shafie.

[5] The new seats are Bengkoka, Bandau, Pintasan, Pantai Dalit, Darau, Tanjung Keramat, Limbahau, Tulid, Telupid, Sungai Manila, Lamag, Segama and Kukusan.

[citation needed] PPBM or Bersatu, despite being a Malay-based party from West Malaysia and contesting in Sabah for the first time, won 11 seats.

[13][14] On 11 September, the Federal Court dismissed Datuk Jahid Noordin Jahim's appeal to stop the election, allowing nominations to proceed the following day.

[16][17][18] On 14 October, the Federal Government announced the implementation of a Conditional Movement Control Order in Selangor, Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur due to the rising number of cases.

[19][20] Following the results of the Malaysian general election in November 2022, and the formation of government consisting of the alliance between Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional, GRS announced their inclusion into the alliance (despite GRS members Bersatu, SAPP and STAR aligning with Perikatan Nasional at the time), and signed a cooperation agreement with other parties involved on 16 December 2022.

[21] On 10 December 2022, MLAs and MPs from Bersatu Sabah announced they will quit the party and become direct member of GRS, in line of the coalition at federal level.