He is a member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a component party in the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

[2] He was appointed as Menteri Besar after Mukhriz Mahathir agreed to step down after losing majority support in the state assembly.

Following his appointment as Menteri Besar, Ahmad Bashah resigned as the Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism and as a Senator.

On 16 August 2016, Alor Setar MP Gooi Hsiao Leung blasted Ahmad Bashah for accusing foreign countries of intervening in Malaysia's administration to topple its leader.

Gooi asked if Ahmad Bashah was referring to the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuits to seize some US$1 billion worth of assets in the US bought with "stolen money" from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).