Menteri Besar of Kelantan

According to the state constitution, the Sultan of Kelantan shall first appoint the Menteri Besar to preside over the Executive Council and requires such Menteri Besar 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, must be an ethnic Malay who professes the religion of Islam and must not a Malaysian citizen by naturalisation or by registration. The Sultan on the Menteri Besar'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 Sultan 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 Menteri Besar is bound by convention to resign immediately. The Sultan's choice of replacement Menteri Besar will be dictated by the circumstances. A member of the Executive Council other than the Menteri Besar shall hold office during the pleasure of the Sultan, unless the appointment of any member of the Executive Council shall have been revoked by the Sultan on the advice of the Menteri Besar but may at any time resign his office.

Following a resignation in other circumstances, defeated in an election or the death of the Menteri Besar, the Sultan will generally appoint as Menteri Besar the person voted by the governing party as their new leader.

The power of the Menteri Besar is subject to a number of limitations. Menteri Besar 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 Sultan. 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 Menteri Besar's party will normally have a majority in the Legislative Assembly and party discipline is exceptionally strong in Kelantan politics, so passage of the government's legislation through the Legislative Assembly is mostly a formality.

The legislative assembly unless sooner dissolved by the Sultan with His Majesty's own discretion on the advice of the Menteri Besar 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 Menteri Besar and the executive council remain in office in a caretaker capacity.

The following is the list of Menteris Besar of Kelantan since 1886:[1][2]

Colour key (for political parties):
  UMNO   Parti Negara   Alliance /   Barisan Nasional   PMIP/PAS

#	Portrait		Name (Birth–Death) Constituency	Political party[lower-alpha 1]	Term of office		Electoral mandates (Assembly)
1			Long Abdul Ghafar (b. unknown–d. unknown)	Independent	1775	1794	-
2			Wan Mahmud Wan Ibrahim (b. unknown–d. unknown)		1800	1835	–
3			Tuan Besar Raja Muda Ismail (b. unknown–d. unknown)		1835	1839	–
4			Long Zainal Abidin Long Abdul Ghafar (b. unknown–d. unknown)		1839	1851	–
5			Nik Abdul Majid Nik Yusoff (b. unknown–d. unknown)		1851	1885	–
6			Nik Yusof Nik Abdul Majid (b. unknown–d. unknown)		1886	1890	–
7			Saad Ngah (b. unknown–d. unknown)		1890	1894	–
6			Nik Yusof Nik Abdul Majid (b. unknown–d. unknown)		1894	1900	–
8			Hassan Mohd Salleh (b. unknown–d. unknown)		1900	1920	–
9			Nik Mahmud Nik Ismail (1882–1964)		30 April 1921	27 December 1944	–
10			Nik Ahmad Kamil Nik Mahmud (1909–1977)		27 December 1944	1953	–
				UMNO
				IMP
				Parti Negara
11			Tengku Muhammad Hamzah Raja Muda Long Zainal Abidin (1909–d. unknown)	Alliance (UMNO)	1953	1959	–
12			Ishak Lotfi Omar (1917–1992) MLA for Kota Bharu Selatan, 1959–1974 MLA for Ketereh, 1974–1978	PMIP	1959	1964	1959 (1st)
13			Asri Muda (1923–1992) MLA for Kota Bharu Tengah, 1959–1973 MLA for Kubang Kerian, 1982–1986		1964	1973	1964 (2nd) 1969 (3rd)
14			Ishak Lotfi Omar (1917–1992) MLA for Kota Bharu Selatan, 1959–1974 MLA for Ketereh, 1974–1978	BN (PAS)	1973	1974	– (3rd)
15			Mohamed Nasir (1916–1997) MLA for Machang Utara, 1959–1964 MLA for Tendong, 1969–1982		1974	November 1977	1974 (4th)
16			Hashim Aman (1931-2018) Federal Director of Kelantan State Government	Independent	November 1977	23 March 1978	– (4th)
17			Mohamed Yaacob (1926–2009) MLA for Jelawat, 1974–1978 MLA for Lanas, 1978–1986 MLA for Panglima Bayu, 1986–1990	BN (UMNO)	23 March 1978	22 October 1990	1978 (5th) 1982 (6th) 1986 (7th)
18			Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat (1931–2015) MLA for Semut Api, 1986–1995 MLA for Chempaka, 1995–2013	APU (PAS) BA (PAS) PR (PAS)	22 October 1990	6 May 2013	1990 (8th) 1995 (9th) 1999 (10th) 2004 (11th) 2008 (12th)
19			Ahmad Yakob (b. 1950) MLA for Pasir Pekan, since 1995	PR (PAS) GS (PAS)	6 May 2013	Incumbent	2013 (13th) 2018 (14th)
				PN (PAS)

Since 2015, there are no former Menteri Besar are living.