General elections were held in the

Federation of Malaya The Federation of Malaya ( ms, Persekutuan Tanah Melayu; Jawi script, Jawi: ) was a federation of what previously had been British Malaya comprising eleven states (nine Malay states and two of the British Empire, British Straits Settlements, P ...

on Wednesday, 27 July 1955, the only

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

before independence in 1957. They were held to elect members of the Federal Legislative Council, whose members had previously been fully appointed by the British High Commissioner. Voting took place in all 52 federal constituencies, each electing one member. State elections also took place in all 136 state constituencies in nine states of Malaya and two settlements from 10 October 1954 to 12 November 1955, each electing one councillor to the State Council or Settlement Council. The

Pan-Malayan Islamic Party The Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS; ms, Parti Islam Se-Malaysia; ms, ڤرتي إسلام سمليسيا, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset) is an Islamist political party in Malaysia. As the party focused on Islamic fundamentalism, PA ...

(PMIP) was formed primarily to contest in the 1955 elections. Previously the PMIP had been known as the "Pan-Malayan Islamic Association", as a part of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). PMIP won support by proclaiming its aim of making

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

the base of the

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

society in the north of

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...

, which was facing the lowest economic growth in Malaya. The elections resulted in a decisive win for the Alliance Party, an alliance of the UMNO, the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) and Malayan Indian Congress (MIC), and a resounding defeat for

Parti Negara The Parti Negara ( also spelled Party Negara) was a Malay-based political party which was formed by former leaders of the Independence of Malaya Party (IMP) in 1953, and formally launched in February 1954. It was founded by Dato Sir Onn Jaafa ...

, led by former UMNO president Onn Jaafar. Onn himself failed to win a seat, while the Alliance proceeded to form the new government, with its leader Tunku Abdul Rahman becoming Chief Minister. Thirty Alliance candidates had majorities of over 10,000 votes. Nine of them had majorities of over 20,000. Forty-three of their opponents lost their deposits.

Timelines

Federal Legislative Council

*Nomination Date : 15 June 1955 *Election day : 27 July 1955

State Council

Settlement Council

Results

The Alliance Party won around 80% of the total vote and 51 out of 52 seats contested. PMIP won their only seat in

Krian Krian is a state constituency in Sarawak, Malaysia, that has been represented in the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly The Sarawak State Legislative Assembly is the legislative chamber of the unicameral legislature of the Malaysian state of ...

, Perak. Its sole winning candidate, Haji

Ahmad Tuan Hussein Ahmad Tuan Hussein (17 June 1906 – 25 February 1978) was a Malayan politician and Islamic religious teacher. He was born in Alor Setar, Kedah with Islamic teaching families. He served in the pre-independence Federal Legislative Council of Malaya, ...

, an Islamic scholar, was subsequently nicknamed "Mr. Opposition". Voter turnout was 82.8%.

Results by state

Johore

Kedah

Kelantan

Malacca

Negri Sembilan

Pahang

Penang

Perak

Perlis

Selangor

Terengganu

State and Settlement Councils

Notes

References

*Barbara Watson Andaya dan Leonard Y. Andaya. ''A History of Malaysia'', The MacMlllan Press Ltd. (1982). . *''The World Book Encyclopedia'', World Book International (1994). .

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

General elections in Malaysia 1955 elections in Malaya Political history of Malaya {{Malaysia-election-stub