The 2020 Sabah state election took place on 26 September 2020 to elect all 73 elected members of the 16th Sabah State Legislative Assembly. The previous Assembly was dissolved on 30 July 2020.

Datuk Seri Panglima Mohd Shafie bin Apdal is a Malaysian politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Semporna since April 1995, State Leader of the Opposition of Sabah since September 2020 and Member of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Senallang since May 2018. He served as the 15th Chief Minister and the State Minister of Finance of Sabah from May 2018 to September 2020, Minister of Rural and Regional Development from April 2009 to July 2015 and Vice-President of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a component party of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. He has served as the 1st and founding President of Heritage Party (WARISAN) since October 2016. He lost the power as Chief Minister of Sabah following the defeat of his coalition WARISAN + in the 2020 state election.