KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's highest court Tuesday rejected an opposition bid to reclaim control of a northern state, ruling that the Barisan Nasional government's takeover last year was legal.

Perak state was left in political limbo in February 2009 when the Barisan Nasional, which rules nationally, moved to oust the Pakatan Rakyat opposition alliance, which won the state in polls the previous year.

After defections cost the Pakatan Rakyat the balance of power, the state sultan ordered it to quit but it refused, leading to a prolonged legal battle.

The Federal Court ruled Tuesday that the Barisan Nasional had a slim majority in the state assembly and ordered the Pakatan Rakyat state leader Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin and his cabinet to quit.

In a unanimous decision, it said that Perak's royal ruler had the "exclusive right" to dissolve the assembly and that there was no need for the no-confidence vote demanded by the opposition.

"If the (chief minister) refuses to tender the resignation of his executive committee after being asked by the Sultan, then he is deemed to have vacated his office," Chief Judge of Malaya Arifin Zakaria said in the judgement.

In an unruly gathering outside the court, some 400 supporters from both sides shouted at each other and chanted "Justice for Perak" and "God is Great".