Chief Minister of Malacca

According to the state constitution, the Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Malacca shall first appoint the Chief Minister to preside over the Executive Council and requires such Chief Minister to be a member of the Legislative Assembly who in his judgment is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the Assembly and must be a Malaysian citizen by naturalization or by registration. The Yang di-Pertua Negeri on the Chief Minister's advice shall appoint not more than ten nor less than four members from among the members of the Legislative Assembly.

The member of the Executive Council must take and subscribe in the presence of the Yang di-Pertua Negeri the oath of office and allegiance as well as the oath of secrecy before they can exercise the functions of office. The Executive Council shall be collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly. The members of the Executive Council shall not hold any office of profit and engage in any trade, business or profession that will cause conflict of interest.

If a government cannot get its appropriation (budget) legislation passed by the Legislative Assembly, or the Legislative Assembly passes a vote of "no confidence" in the government, the Chief Minister is bound by convention to resign immediately. The Yang di-Pertua Negeri's choice of replacement chief minister will be dictated by the circumstances. A member of the Executive Council other than the Chief Minister shall hold office during the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertua Negeri, unless the appointment of any member of the Executive Council shall have been revoked by the Yang di-Pertua Negeri on the advice of the Chief Minister but may at any time resign his office.

Following a resignation in other circumstances, defeated in an election or the death of a chief minister, the Yang di-Pertua Negeri will generally appoint as Chief Minister the person voted by the governing party as their new leader.

The power of the chief minister is subject to a number of limitations. Chief ministers removed as leader of his or her party, or whose government loses a vote of no confidence in the Legislative Assembly, must advise a state election or resign the office or be dismissed by the Yang di-Pertua Negeri. The defeat of a supply bill (one that concerns the spending of money) or unable to pass important policy-related legislation is seen to require the resignation of the government or dissolution of Legislative Assembly, much like a non-confidence vote, since a government that cannot spend money is hamstrung, also called loss of supply.

The chief minister's party will normally have a majority in the Legislative Assembly and party discipline is exceptionally strong in Malacca politics, so passage of the government's legislation through the Legislative Assembly is mostly a formality.

The legislative assembly unless sooner dissolved by the Yang di-Pertua Negeri with His Excellency's own discretion on the advice of the chief minister shall continue for five years from the date of its first meeting. The state constitution permits a delay of 60 days of general election to be held from the date of dissolution and the legislative assembly shall be summoned to meet on a date not later than 120 days from the date of dissolution. Conventionally, between the dissolution of one legislative assembly and the convening of the next, the chief minister and the executive council remain in office in a caretaker capacity.

The following is the list of chief ministers of Malacca since 1957:[1][2][3]

Colour key (for political parties):
  Alliance /   BN   PH

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death) Constituency	Term of office			Party[lower-alpha 1]		Election	Assembly
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Osman Talib	31 August 1957	1 June 1959	1 year, 275 days		Alliance (UMNO)	–	–
2		Abdul Ghafar Baba (1925–2006) MLA for Tanjong Kling	1 June 1959	7 October 1967	8 years, 129 days		Alliance (UMNO)	1959	1st
								1964	2nd
3		Talib Karim (1911–1977) MLA for Alor Gajah	7 October 1967	1 August 1972	4 years, 300 days		Alliance (UMNO)	–
								1969	3rd
4		Abdul Ghani Ali (1923–2004) MLA for Ramuan China (until 1974) MLA for Sungei Bahru (from 1974)	1 August 1972	11 July 1978	5 years, 345 days		Alliance (UMNO)	–
							BN (UMNO)	1974	4th
5		Mohd Adib Mohamad Adam (1941–2022) MLA for Ayer Panas	11 July 1978	26 April 1982	3 years, 290 days		BN (UMNO)	1978	5th
6		Tan Sri Datuk Seri Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik (born 1950) MLA for Kelemak (until 1986) MLA for Masjid Tanah (from 1986)	26 April 1982	14 October 1994	12 years, 172 days		BN (UMNO)	1982	6th
								1986	7th
								1990	8th
7		Datuk Seri Mohd Zin Abdul Ghani (1941–1997) MLA for Kelemak (until 1995) MLA for Melekek (from 1995)	14 October 1994	14 May 1997	2 years, 213 days		BN (UMNO)	–
								1995	9th
8		Datuk Seri Abu Zahar Ithnin (–2013) MLA for Merlimau	23 May 1997	2 December 1999	2 years, 194 days		BN (UMNO)	–
9		Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam (born 1949) MLA for Paya Rumput (until 2004) MLA for Bukit Baru (from 2004)	2 December 1999	7 May 2013	13 years, 157 days		BN (UMNO)	1999	10th
								2004	11th
								2008	12th
10		Datuk Seri Utama Idris Haron (born 1966) MLA for Sungai Udang	7 May 2013	11 May 2018	5 years, 5 days		BN (UMNO)	2013	13th
11		Adly Zahari (born 1971) MLA for Bukit Katil	11 May 2018	9 March 2020	1 year, 304 days		PH (AMANAH)	2018	14th
12		Datuk Seri Utama Sulaiman Md Ali (born 1966) MLA for Lendu	9 March 2020	31 March 2023	3 years, 23 days		BN (UMNO)	–
								2021	15th
13		Datuk Seri Utama Ab Rauf Yusoh (born 1961) MLA for Tanjung Bidara	31 March 2023	Incumbent	212 days		BN (UMNO)	–