The 13th Kedah state election was held on 5 May 2013. Polling took place in 36 constituencies throughout the Malaysian state of

Kedah Kedah (), also known by its honorific Darul Aman and historically as Queda, is a state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of Peninsular Malaysia. The state covers a total area of over 9,000 km2, and it consists of the mainland ...

, with each electing a State Assemblyman to the

Kedah State Legislative Assembly The Kedah State Legislative Assembly ( ms, Dewan Undangan Negeri Kedah) is the state legislature of the Malaysian state of Kedah. It is a unicameral institution, consisting of a total of 36 lawmakers representing single-member constituencies thro ...

. The election was conducted by the Malaysian Election Commission. The state election was held concurrently with the 2013 Malaysian general election.

Barisan Nasional The National Front ( ms, Barisan Nasional; abbrev: BN) is a political coalition of Malaysia that was founded in 1973 as a coalition of centre-right and right-wing political parties. It is also the third largest political coalition with 30 ...

(BN), having lost the state for the first time in their history in the 2008 election, regains the state government after winning 21 of the 36 seats.

Pakatan Rakyat The People's Alliance ( ms, Pakatan Rakyat; abbrev: PR) was an informal Malaysian political coalition and successor to Barisan Alternatif (BA). The political coalition was formed by the People's Justice Party (PKR), Democratic Action Party (DA ...

(PR), the informal coalition of

Democratic Action Party The Democratic Action Party (abbreviation: DAP; ms, Parti Tindakan Demokratik; ; ta, ஜனநாயக செயல் கட்சி) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Malaysia. As one of four component parties of the ...

(DAP),

Parti Islam Se-Malaysia 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, PAS's ...

(PAS) and

Parti Keadilan Rakyat The People's Justice Party ( ms, Parti Keadilan Rakyat , often known simply as KEADILAN or PKR) is a Reformism, reformist politics of Malaysia, political party in Malaysia, formed in 2003 by a merger of the National Justice Party and the olde ...

(PKR), won the remaining 15 seats to become the main opposition. This election is the only time the DAP-PAS-PKR coalition is referred as Pakatan Rakyat during the Kedah state election campaign (although each party is contesting using their own name and logo), and also the final Kedah state election which the three parties works as a coalition; PR splits in 2015 due to disagreements between DAP and PAS.

Background

Political parties

Electoral divisions

Issues

Campaign

Social media

Rallies

Results

Aftermath

Mukhriz Mahathir Dato' Seri Utama Mukhriz bin Tun Dr. Mahathir ( Jawi: مخرج بن محاضر; born 25 November 1964) is a Malaysian politician who twice served as the 11th and 13th Menteri Besar of Kedah from May 2013 to February 2016 and again from May 2 ...

, the UMNO and BN state chairman and MLA for Ayer Hitam, were sworn in as the new Kedah Menteri Besar on the next day, in front of the Sultan of Kedah. But on 3 February 2016, Mukhriz resigned as Menteri Besar after facing no-confidence vote in the state assembly, and were replaced by Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah. Mukhriz later was sacked from UMNO on 24 June the same year, and together with his father Mahathir Mohamad and other sacked UMNO members formed

Malaysian United Indigenous Party The Malaysian United Indigenous Party ( ms, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia), abbreviated BERSATU or PPBM, is a nationalist political party in Malaysia. The party was preceded by the United Indigenous Association of Malaysia (). It is a major c ...

(PPBM/BERSATU) a month later. The previous Menteri Besar and MLA for Sungai Limau,

Azizan Abdul Razak Azizan bin Abdul Razak (25 October 1944 – 26 September 2013) was a Malaysian politician who served as the 10th Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) of the state of Kedah from 2008 to 2013. A member of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), he was ...

died on 26 September 2013 due to internal organ failure and bacterial infection. His death triggered the 2013 Sungai Limau by-election, which were won by PAS candidate to retain the seat. In 2015, the PR coalition was disbanded, due to disagreements between PAS and DAP over the former's insistence to implement the Islamic penal code, known as '' hudud'', in the State of Kelantan. Also in 2015, a group of progressives in PAS led by

Mohamad Sabu Mohamad bin Sabu ( Jawi: محمد بن سابو), commonly known as Mat Sabu, is a Malaysian politician who has served as the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration under Prime Minister Anwar Ibr ...

exits the party after losing in the party election, later forming National Trust Party (Amanah). Amanah joined forces with DAP and PKR in forming a successor coalition to PR, later known as

Pakatan Harapan The Alliance of Hope ( ms, Pakatan Harapan; abbrev: PH; stylized as HARAPAN) is a Malaysian political coalition consisting of centre-left political parties which was formed in 2015 to succeed the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has been the ...

(PH) after PPBM/BERSATU joined the coalition in 2017. As a result of the split, PH were reduced to 6 seats in the state assembly, but later gained 3 seats after defection of 2 PAS MLA (

Phahrolrazi Zawawi Dato' Haji Phahrolrazi bin Haji Mohd Zawawi (born 8 September 1953) is a Malaysian politician who has served as Member of the Kedah State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Alor Mengkudu since May 2018 and Pengkalan Kundor from March 2008 to May ...

to Amanah, Amiruddin Hamzah to PPBM/BERSATU) and 1 UMNO MLA (Mukhriz to PPBM/BERSATU).