A general election was held on Saturday, 8 March 2008 for members of the 12th

Parliament of Malaysia The Parliament of Malaysia ( ms, Parlimen Malaysia) is the national legislature of Malaysia, based on the Westminster system. The bicameral parliament consists of the Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives, lit. "People's Assembly") and the D ...

. Voting took place in all 222 parliamentary constituencies of Malaysia, each electing one Member of Parliament to the Dewan Rakyat, the dominant house of Parliament. State elections also took place in 505 state constituencies in 12 out of 13 states (excluding

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, ...

) on the same day. The 11th Parliament was dissolved on 13 February 2008, and the following day, the Election Commission announced nominations would be held on 24 February, with general

polling Poll, polled, or polling may refer to: Figurative head counts * Poll, a formal election ** Election verification exit poll, a survey taken to verify election counts ** Polling, voting to make decisions or determine opinions ** Polling places o ...

set for 8 March. State assemblies of all states except

(due to election in 2006) also dissolved and their elections took place at the same time. Political parties were reported to have begun preparations for the polls as early as January 2008. As in 2004, the incumbent National Front coalition, the ruling political alliance since independence, as well as opposition parties represented primarily by

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), the

Pan-Malaysian 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, PAS's ...

(PAS), and

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

(PKR) contested the election. As with all preceding general elections following independence, the parliamentary election was won by BN, but this election also yielded the worst results in the coalition's history until election ten years later. Opposition parties won 82 seats in the 222-seat Dewan Rakyat and 47.79% of the vote, while BN only managing to secure the remaining 140 seats and 51.39% of the vote. It marked the first time since the 1969 election that the coalition did not win a two-thirds supermajority in the Malaysian Parliament required to pass amendments to the

Malaysian Constitution The Federal Constitution of Malaysia ( ms, Perlembagaan Persekutuan Malaysia) which was promulgated on 16 September 1963, is the supreme law of Malaysia and contains a total of 183 articles. It is a written legal document which was preceded ...

. In addition, five of the twelve contested state legislatures were won by the opposition, compared with only one in the last election but Perak was retaken by Barisan Nasional after 11- month administration by

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 ...

coalition. This marked the end of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's tenure as Prime Minister before his handover to Najib Razak several months later. As of the

2022 general election The following elections are scheduled to occur in 2022. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2022 United Nations Security Council election * 2022 national electoral calendar * 2022 local ...

, this is the last time the National Front won the overall popular vote.

Results

Dewan Rakyat

, - ! rowspan=2 colspan=4 style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" , Party ! colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" , Vote ! colspan=3 style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" , Seats , - ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" , Votes ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" , % ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" , Won ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" , % ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" , +/– , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" , National Front , , BN , , 4,082,411 , , 51.39 , , 140 , , 63.06 , , 58 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , rowspan=14, , style="background-color: #E62020;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

United Malays National Organisation The United Malays National Organisation ( Malay: ; Jawi: ; abbreviated UMNO () or less commonly PEKEMBAR), is a nationalist right-wing political party in Malaysia. As the oldest continuous national political party within Malaysia (since its ...

, , UMNO , , 2,381,725 , , 29.98 , , 79 , , 35.59 , , 30 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #0000FF;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

Malaysian Chinese Association The Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA; zh, 马来西亚华人公会; ; ta, மலேசிய சீனர் சங்கம், initially known as the Malayan Chinese Association) is a uni-racial political party in Malaysia that seeks to ...

, , MCA , , 840,489 , , 10.58 , , 15 , , 6.76 , , 16 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #FF0000;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

Malaysian People's Movement Party The Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia ( en, Malaysian People's Movement Party, commonly abbreviated as GERAKAN or less commonly as PGRM) is a liberal political party in Malaysia. Formed in 1968, Gerakan gained prominence in the 1969 general electio ...

, , Gerakan , , 184,548 , , 2.32 , , 2 , , 0.90 , , 8 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #29AB87;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Malaysian Indian Congress , , MIC , , 179,422 , , 2.26 , , 3 , , 1.35 , , 6 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: red;" , , style="text-align:left;" , United Traditional Bumiputera Party , , PBB , , 131,243 , , 1.65 , , 14 , , 6.31 , , 3 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: yellow;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Sarawak United People's Party , , SUPP , , 119,264 , , 1.50 , , 6 , , 2.70 , , , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #00008B;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation The United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation ( ms, Pertubuhan Kinabalu Progresif Bersatu; abbrev: UPKO) is a multiracial political party based in Sabah, Malaysia. The party was rebranded from its previous party's name, United Pasokmomogun Ka ...

, , UPKO , , 58,856 , , 0.74 , , 4 , , 1.80 , , , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #FFFF00;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party , , SPDP , , 52,645 , , 0.66 , , 4 , , 1.80 , , , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #ADD8E6;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

United Sabah Party The United Sabah Party ( ms, Parti Bersatu Sabah, abbreviated PBS) is a political party of Sabah. The PBS was founded by Joseph Pairin Kitingan in 1985 and it is Sabah's oldest local party. In August 2020, PBS confirmed that they would be usin ...

, , PBS , , 44,885 , , 0.56 , , 3 , , 1.35 , , 1 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: green;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Sarawak People's Party , , PRS , , 33,410 , , 0.42 , , 6 , , 2.70 , , New , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: ;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Sabah Progressive Party , , SAPP , , 30,827 , , 0.39 , , 2 , , 0.90 , , 2 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #DAA520;" , , style="text-align:left;" , People's Progressive Party , , PPP , , 16,800 , , 0.21 , , 0 , , 0.00 , , 1 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #FF7F00;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Liberal Democratic Party , , LDP , , 8,297 , , 0.10 , , 1 , , 0.45 , , 1 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #FEDF00;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

United Sabah People's Party The United Sabah People's Party ( ms, Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah; abbreviated: PBRS) is a minority political party based in Sabah, Malaysia. Presently PBRS is being led by its founding and first President; Joseph Kurup. PBRS is officially a c ...

, , PBRS , , 0 , , 0.00 , , 1 , , 0.45 , , , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , , colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" , Parties in the informal coalition, People's Pact , , PR , , 3,767,781 , , 47.43 , , 82 , , 36.94 , , 62 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" ,

, , PKR , , 1,509,080 , , 19.00 , , 31 , , 13.96 , , 30 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" ,

, , PAS , , 1,140,676 , , 14.36 , , 23 , , 10.36 , , 15 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" ,

, , DAP , , 1,118,025 , , 14.07 , , 28 , , 12.61 , , 17 , - , , colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" , Malaysian People's Party , , PRM , , 19,126 , , 0.24 , , 0 , , 0.00 , , , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" ,

Sarawak National Party The Sarawak National Party known by its acronym as "SNAP", is now a defunct political party in Malaysia. It was a member party of the Alliance Party from 1963 to 1966 and a member of Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition from 1976 until its expulsion ...

, , SNAP , , 12,567 , , 0.16 , , 0 , , 0.00 , , , - , , colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" , United Pasok Nunukragang National Organisation , , PASOK , , 1,023 , , 0.01 , , 0 , , 0.00 , , , - , , colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" , Federated Sabah People's Front , , BERSEKUTU , , 942 , , 0.01 , , 0 , , 0.00 , , New , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" , Independents , , IND , , 60,424 , , 0.76 , , 0 , , 0.00 , , 1 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="4" , Valid votes, , 7,944,274 , , rowspan=2 colspan="4" style="background-color:#dcdcdc;", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="4" ,

Invalid Invalid may refer to: * Patient, a sick person * one who is confined to home or bed because of illness, disability or injury (sometimes considered a politically incorrect term) * .invalid, a top-level Internet domain not intended for real use As t ...

/ blank votes, , 216,765 , - , colspan="4" style="text-align:left;" , Total votes (

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Univ ...

: 74.98%) , , 8,161,039 , , 100.00 , , 222 , , 100.00 , , 3 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="4" , Did not vote, , 2,761,100 , , rowspan="6" colspan="4" style="background-color:#dcdcdc;", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="4" , Registered voters, , 10,922,139 , - , , , style="text-align:left;" colspan="3" , Ordinary voters, , 10,701,054 , - , , , style="text-align:left;" colspan="3" , Postal voters, , 221,085 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="4" , Voting age population (aged 21 years and above), , 15,283,282 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="4" , Malaysian population, , 25,274,133 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan=9 , Source: Sin Chew Jit Poh, Malaysia
Source: Nohlen et al

Results by state

Johor

, , UMNO , , 16 , , , , , , 16 , , 61.54 , , 0 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #0000FF;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, , MCA , , 8 , , , , , , 7 , , 26.92 , , -1 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #29AB87;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Malaysian Indian Congress , , MIC , , 1 , , , , , , 1 , , 3.85 , , 0 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #FF0000;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, , Gerakan, , 1 , , , , , , 1 , , 3.85 , , 0 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" ,

, , DAP, , , , , , , , 1 , , 3.85 , , +1 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" ,

, , PAS , , , , , , , , 0 , , 0.00 , , 0 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Valid votes, , , , rowspan=2 colspan="4" style="background-color:#dcdcdc", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" ,

/ blank votes, , , - , colspan="5" style="text-align:left;" , Total votes (

: %) , , , , 100.00 , , , , 100.00 , , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Did not vote, , , , rowspan="4" colspan="4" style="background-color:#dcdcdc", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Registered voters, , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Voting age population (aged 21 years and above), , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Johor's population, , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan=10 , Source:

Kedah

, , UMNO , , 13 , , 280,475 , , 41.28 , , 3 , , 20.00 , , -9 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #0000FF;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, , MCA , , 2 , , 37,777 , , 5.56 , , 1 , , 6.67 , , -1 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" ,

, , PAS , , 8 , , 185,787 , , 27.34 , , 6 , , 40.00 , , +5 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" ,

, , PKR , , 7 , , 175,430 , , 25.82 , , 5 , , 33.33 , , +5 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Valid votes, , 679,469 , , rowspan=2 colspan="4" style="background-color:#dcdcdc", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" ,

/ blank votes, , 17,756 , - , colspan="5" style="text-align:left;" , Total votes (

: 79.80%) , , 697,225 , , 100.00 , , 15 , , 100.00 , , 0 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Did not vote, , 176,449 , , rowspan="4" colspan="4" style="background-color:#dcdcdc", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Registered voters, , 873,674 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Voting age population (aged 21 years and above), , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Kedah's population, , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan=10 , Source:

Kelantan

, , PAS , , 11 , , 273,965 , , 45.07 , , 9 , , 64.29 , , +3 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , National Front, , BN , , 14 , , 271,736 , , 44.71 , , 2 , , 14.29 , , -6 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , rowspan=1, , style="background-color: #E62020;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, , UMNO , , 14 , , 271,736 , , 44.71 , , 2 , , 14.29 , , -6 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" ,

, , PKR , , 3 , , 60,333 , , 9.93 , , 3 , , 21.43 , , +3 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , Independents , , IND , , 1 , , 1,769 , , 0.29 , , 0 , , 0.00 , , 0 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Valid votes, , 607,803 , , rowspan=2 colspan="4" style="background-color:#dcdcdc", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" ,

/ blank votes, , 12,829 , - , colspan="5" style="text-align:left;" , Total votes (

: 82.57%) , , 620,632 , , 100.00 , , 14 , , 100.00 , , 0 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Did not vote, , 131,050 , , rowspan="4" colspan="4" style="background-color:#dcdcdc", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Registered voters, , 751,682 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Voting age population (aged 21 years and above), , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Kelantan's population, , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan=10 , Source:

Kuala Lumpur

, , UMNO , , , , , , , , , , , , , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan=2 align=left,

, , PAS , , , , , , , , , , , , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Valid votes, , , , rowspan=2 colspan="4" bgcolor="dcdcdc", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" ,

/ blank votes, , , - , colspan="5" style="text-align:left;" , Total votes (

: %) , , , , 100.00 , , , , 100.00 , , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Did not vote, , , , rowspan="4" colspan="4" bgcolor="dcdcdc", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Registered voters, , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Voting age population (aged 21 years and above), , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Kuala Lumpur's population, , , - , align=left colspan=10, Source:

Labuan

Malacca

, , UMNO , , 4 , , , , , , 4 , , 66.67 , , 0 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #0000FF;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, , MCA , , 2 , , , , , , 1 , , 16.67 , , -1 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" ,

, , DAP, , , , , , , , 1 , , 16.67 , , +1 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" ,

/ blank votes, , , - , colspan="5" style="text-align:left;" , Total votes (

: %) , , , , 100.00 , , 6 , , 100.00 , , 0 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Did not vote, , , , rowspan="4" colspan="4" style="background-color:#dcdcdc", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Registered voters, , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Voting age population (aged 21 years and above), , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Malacca's population, , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan=10 , Source:

Negeri Sembilan

, , UMNO , , 5 , , , , , , 5 , , 62.50 , , 0 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #0000FF;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, , MCA , , 2 , , , , , , 0 , , 0.00 , , -2 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #29AB87;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Malaysian Indian Congress , , MIC , , 1 , , , , , , 0 , , 0.00 , , -1 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" ,

, , DAP, , , , , , , , 2 , , 25.00 , , +2 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" ,

, , PKR , , , , , , , , 1 , , 12.50 , , +1 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" ,

/ blank votes, , , - , colspan="5" style="text-align:left;" , Total votes (

: %) , , , , 100.00 , , 8 , , 100.00 , , 0 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Did not vote, , , , rowspan="4" colspan="4" style="background-color:#dcdcdc", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Registered voters, , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Voting age population (aged 21 years and above), , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Negeri Sembilan's population, , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan=10 , Source:

Pahang

, , UMNO , , 10 , , , , , , 9 , , 64.29 , , -1 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #0000FF;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, , MCA , , 3 , , , , , , 2 , , 14.29 , , -1 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #29AB87;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Malaysian Indian Congress , , MIC , , 1 , , , , , , 1 , , 7.14 , , 0 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" ,

, , PKR , , 6 , , 90,396 , , 20.04 , , 2 , , 14.29 , , +2 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" ,

, , PAS , , 6 , , 70,811 , , 15.70 , , 0 , , 0.00 , , 0 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" ,

, , DAP , , 2 , , 21,373 , , 4.74 , , 0 , , 0.00 , , 0 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Valid votes, , 451,114 , , rowspan=2 colspan="4" style="background-color:#dcdcdc", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" ,

/ blank votes, , 13,794 , - , colspan="5" style="text-align:left;" , Total votes (

: 77.07%) , , 464,908 , , 100.00 , , 14 , , 100.00 , , 0 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Did not vote, , 138,334 , , rowspan="4" colspan="4" style="background-color:#dcdcdc", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Registered voters, , 603,242 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Voting age population (aged 21 years and above), , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Pahang's population, , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan=10 , Source:

Penang

, , DAP, , 7 , , 219,821 , , 40.50 , , 7 , , 53.85 , , +3 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , National Front, , BN , , 13 , , 200,103 , , 36.86 , , 2 , , 15.38 , , -6 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , rowspan=3, , style="background-color: #E62020;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, , UMNO , , 5 , , 93,007 , , 17.13 , , 2 , , 15.38 , , -2 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #0000FF;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, , MCA , , 4 , , 54,377 , , 10.02 , , 0 , , 0.00 , , -1 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #FF0000;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, , Gerakan, , 4 , , 52,719 , , 9.71 , , 0 , , 0.00 , , -3 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" ,

, , PKR, , 4 , , 93,925 , , 17.30 , , 4 , , 30.77 , , +3 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" ,

, , PAS , , 2 , , 28,100 , , 5.18 , , 0 , , 0.00 , , 0 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , style="text-align:left;" colspan="2" , Independents, , IND, , 1 , , 882 , , 0.16 , , 0 , , 0.00 , , 0 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Valid votes, , 542,831 , , rowspan=2 colspan="4" style="background-color:#dcdcdc", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" ,

/ blank votes, , 11,846 , - , colspan="5" style="text-align:left;" , Total votes (

: 78.20%) , , 554,677 , , 100.00 , , 13 , , 100.00 , , 0 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Did not vote, , 154,646 , , rowspan="4" colspan="4" style="background-color:#dcdcdc", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Registered voters, , 709,323 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Voting age population (aged 21 years and above), , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Penang's population, , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan=10 , Source:

Perak

, , UMNO , , , , , , , , 8 , , 33.33 , , -3 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #0000FF;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, , MCA , , , , , , , , 3 , , 12.50 , , -1 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #FF0000;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, , Gerakan, , , , , , , , 1 , , 4.17 , , -2 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #29AB87;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Malaysian Indian Congress , , MIC , , , , , , , , 1 , , 4.17 , , -1 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #DAA520;" , , style="text-align:left;" , People's Progressive Party, , PPP, , , , , , , , 0 , , 0.00 , , -1 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" ,

, , DAP , , 7 , , 189,706 , , 22.52 , , 6 , , 25.00 , , +3 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" ,

, , PKR , , 10 , , 172,455 , , 20.47 , , 3 , , 12.50 , , +3 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" ,

, , PAS , , 7 , , 87,032 , , 10.33 , , 2 , , 8.33 , , +2 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" , Independents , , IND , , 2 , , 1,736 , , 0.21 , , 0 , , 0.00 , , 0 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Valid votes, , 842,390 , , rowspan=2 colspan="4" style="background-color:#dcdcdc", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" ,

/ blank votes, , 30,202 , - , colspan="5" style="text-align:left;" , Total votes (

: 72.95%) , , 872,592 , , 100.00 , , 24 , , 100.00 , , 0 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Did not vote, , 323,568 , , rowspan="4" colspan="4" style="background-color:#dcdcdc", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Registered voters, , 1,196,160 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Voting age population (aged 21 years and above), , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Perak's population, , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan=10 , Source:

Perlis

, , UMNO , , 3 , , 57,263 , , 60.15 , , 3 , , 100.00 , , 0 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" ,

, , PAS , , 2 , , 27,794 , , 29.19 , , 0 , , 0.00 , , 0 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , style="text-align:left;" colspan="2" ,

, , PKR , , 1 , , 10,150 , , 10.66 , , 0 , , 0.00 , , 0 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Valid votes, , 95,207 , , rowspan=2 colspan="4" style="background-color:#dcdcdc", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" ,

/ blank votes, , 2,325 , - , colspan="5" style="text-align:left;" , Total votes (

: 81.22%) , , 97,532 , , 100.00 , , 3 , , 100.00 , , 0 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Did not vote, , 22,549 , , rowspan="4" colspan="4" style="background-color:#dcdcdc", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Registered voters, , 120,081 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Voting age population (aged 21 years and above), , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Perlis's population, , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan=10 , Source:

Putrajaya

Sabah

, , UMNO , , , , , , , , 13 , , 52.00 , , 0 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #00008B;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, , UPKO , , , , , , , , 4 , , 16.00 , , 0 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #ADD8E6;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, , PBS , , , , , , , , 3 , , 12.00 , , -1 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: ;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Sabah Progressive Party , , SAPP , , , , , , , , 2 , , 8.00 , , 0 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #FEDF00;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, , PBRS , , , , , , , , 1 , , 4.00 , , 0 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #FF7F00;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Liberal Democratic Party , , LDP , , , , , , , , 1 , , 4.00 , , +1 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" ,

, , DAP , , 5 , , , , , , 1 , , 4.00 , , +1 , - , , colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" , Federated Sabah People's Front , , BERSEKUTU , , 2 , , , , , , 0 , , 0.00 , , 0 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" ,

, , PKR , , 20 , , , , , , 0 , , 0.00 , , 0 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" ,

, , PAS , , 1 , , , , , , 0 , , 0.00 , , 0 , - , , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , United Pasok Nunukragang National Organisation, , PASOK, , 3 , , , , , , 0 , , 0.00 , , 0 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" , Independents , , IND , , 16 , , , , , , 0 , , 0.00 , , -1 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Valid votes, , , , rowspan=2 colspan="4" style="background-color:#dcdcdc", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" ,

/ blank votes, , , - , colspan="5" style="text-align:left;" , Total votes (

: %) , , , , 100.00 , , 25 , , 100.00 , , 0 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Did not vote, , , , rowspan="4" colspan="4" style="background-color:#dcdcdc", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Registered voters, , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Voting age population (aged 21 years and above), , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Sabah's population, , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan=10 , Source:

Sarawak

, - ! rowspan=2 colspan=4 style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" , Party ! rowspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" , Candidates ! colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" , Vote ! colspan=3 style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" , Seats , - ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" , Votes ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" , % ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" , Won ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" , % ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" , +/– , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , National Front, , BN , , 31 , , , , , , 30 , , 96.77 , , +3 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , rowspan=4, , style="background-color: red;" , , style="text-align:left;" , United Traditional Bumiputera Party , , PBB , , 14 , , , , , , 14 , , 45.16 , , +3 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: green;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Sarawak People's Party , , PRS , , 6 , , , , , , 6 , , 19.35 , , New , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: yellow;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Sarawak United People's Party , , SUPP , , 7 , , , , , , 6 , , 19.35 , , 0 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #FFFF00;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party , , SPDP , , 4 , , , , , , 4 , , 12.90 , , 0 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" ,

, , DAP , , , , , , , , 1 , , 3.23 , , 0 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Valid votes, , , , rowspan=2 colspan="4" style="background-color:#dcdcdc", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" ,

/ blank votes, , , - , colspan="5" style="text-align:left;" , Total votes (

: %) , , , , 100.00 , , 31 , , 100.00 , , +3 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Did not vote, , , , rowspan="4" colspan="4" style="background-color:#dcdcdc", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Registered voters, , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Voting age population (aged 21 years and above), , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Sarawak's population, , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan=10 , Source:

Selangor

, , UMNO , , 10 , , , , , , 4 , , 18.18 , , -6 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #0000FF;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, , MCA , , 7 , , , , , , 1 , , 4.55 , , -6 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #29AB87;" , , style="text-align:left;" , Malaysian Indian Congress , , MIC , , 4 , , , , , , 0 , , 0.00 , , -4 , -style="background:#EFEFEF;" , style="background-color: #FF0000;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, , Gerakan, , 1 , , , , , , 0 , , 0.00 , , -1 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" ,

, , PKR , , 11 , , 323,005 , , 27.41 , , 9 , , 40.91 , , +9 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" ,

, , PAS , , 7 , , 171,751 , , 14.57 , , 4 , , 18.18 , , +4 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" ,

, , DAP, , 4 , , 158,364 , , 13.44 , , 4 , , 18.18 , , +4 , - , , colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" , Malaysian People's Party , , PRM , , 1 , , 1,332 , , 0.11 , , 0 , , 0.00 , , 0 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" , Independents , , IND , , 1 , , 1,895 , , 0.16 , , 0 , , 0.00 , , 0 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Valid votes, , 1,178,438 , , rowspan=2 colspan="4" style="background-color:#dcdcdc", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" ,

/ blank votes, , 30,235 , - , colspan="5" style="text-align:left;" , Total votes (

: 77.21%) , , 1,208,673 , , 100.00 , , 22 , , 100.00 , , 0 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Did not vote, , 356,820 , , rowspan="4" colspan="4" style="background-color:#dcdcdc", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Registered voters, , 1,565,493 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Voting age population (aged 21 years and above), , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Selangor's population, , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan=10 , Source:

Terengganu

, , UMNO , , 8 , , 239,922 , , 55.11 , , 7 , , 87.50 , , -1 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" ,

, , PAS , , 6 , , 145,955 , , 33.53 , , 1 , , 12.50 , , +1 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" ,

, , PKR , , 2 , , 48,786 , , 11.21 , , 0 , , 0.00 , , 0 , - , style="background-color: ;" , , colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" , Independents, , IND , , 1 , , 685 , , 0.16 , , 0 , , 0.00 , , 0 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Valid votes, , 435,348 , , rowspan=2 colspan="4" style="background-color:#dcdcdc", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" ,

/ blank votes, , 7,857 , - , colspan="5" style="text-align:left;" , Total votes (

: 84.97%) , , 443,205 , , 100.00 , , 8 , , 100.00 , , 0 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Did not vote, , 78,392 , , rowspan="4" colspan="4" style="background-color:#dcdcdc", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Registered voters, , 521,597 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Voting age population (aged 21 years and above), , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="5" , Terengganu's population, , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan=10 , Source:

State Assemblies

Background

Key dates

The

Malaysian Parliament The Parliament of Malaysia ( ms, Parlimen Malaysia) is the national legislature of Malaysia, based on the Westminster system. The bicameral parliament consists of the Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives, lit. "People's Assembly") and the ...

was dissolved on 13 February 2008 by the

Yang di-Pertuan Agong The Yang di-Pertuan Agong (, Jawi: ), also known as the Supreme Head of the Federation, the Paramount Ruler or simply as the Agong, and unofficially as the King of Malaysia, is the constitutional monarch and head of state of Malaysia. The o ...

(King) on the advice of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, from which a general election will be required to be held within the 60 days, between 13 February 2008 and 13 April 2008. The announcement of the dissolution was done a day after the Prime Minister publicly denied that Parliament would be dissolved on 13 February. Speculation on the exact polling date was rife, as political analysts expected polling to be held after the Chinese New Year on 7 February and during the week-long school holidays from 7 to 16 March, as schools will be available for use as

polling station A polling place is where voters cast their ballots in elections. The phrase polling station is also used in American English and British English, although polling place is the building

s. Political analysts saw a March election as an attempt by the Prime Minister to garner a fresh mandate before a slowdown in the global and Malaysian economies, and in an effort to bar Anwar Ibrahim from contesting, as he is permitted to re-enter politics on 14 April 2008. On 14 February, the Election Commission announced nominations would be held on 24 February, with general

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

set for 8 March. This will allow for 13 days of campaigning to take place. Anwar Ibrahim subsequently criticised the Prime Minister on the choice of date, calling the move a "dirty trick" and a sign of "Prime Minister Abdullah ..getting personal." There were expectations that a Member of Parliament from Anwar's party,

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 ...

, would resign after that date to pave the way for a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

which Anwar could contest to attempt a comeback in Parliament. At the time these claims were unsubstantiated, however, the expectations were fulfilled when Anwar's wife vacated her seat.

Issues and public sentiments

The Merdeka Centre ran a survey in 2008 to gauge public sentiment and the result was published soon after. There was a series of issues raised by all sides in the run up to the election. Among the issues are inflation, shortage of goods, fuel subsidies, rising crime, majority government, mismanagement, corruption, the demand for free and fair elections by a group of NGOs and political parties under the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH), racial equality especially as highlighted by HINDRAF,

Internal Security Act Internal Security Act may refer to: * Internal Security Act 1960, former Malaysian law *Internal Security Act (Singapore) * McCarran Internal Security Act, a United States federal law *Suppression of Communism Act, 1950, a South African law, rename ...

detainees, the case surrounding the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam Video Clip and the eligibility of former Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Anger among ethnic Indians regarding issues such as restrictions on jobs, education, freedom of religion, right and a widespread feeling of loss of dignity have played a part during the 2008 parliamentary elections in Malaysia. One of the other main issues brought up has been whether the election would be conducted fairly. The opposition has pointed out these issues are gerrymandering of electoral districts, uneven media access, outdated electoral systems, election fraud and vote buying. Besides, it was also alleged that the anti-

Khairy Jamaluddin Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar ( Jawi: ; born 10 January 1976) is a Malaysian politician. He most recently served as Minister of Health in the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration under former Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob from August 2021 ...

sentiment became another main factor of the National Front's heavy losses, as stated by Tun Dr.

Mahathir bin Mohamad Mahathir bin Mohamad ( ms, محاضير بن محمد, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; ; born 10 July 1925) is a Malaysian politician, author, and physician who served as the 4th and 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia. He held the office ...

. Khairy Jamaluddin is the son-in-law of the current Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and was accused of influencing the Prime Minister when making critical decisions.

Campaigning and strategies

Government

Prime Minister

Abdullah Badawi Abdullah may refer to: * Abdullah (name), a list of people with the given name or surname * Abdullah, Kargı, Turkey, a village * ''Abdullah'' (film), a 1980 Bollywood film directed by Sanjay Khan * '' Abdullah: The Final Witness'', a 2015 Pakis ...

's ruling

(UMNO) party and their National Front partners ran a younger crop of candidates with fewer ties to former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, the architect of the country's affirmative-action policies in the election. Abdullah said he needed "one or two more terms" to successfully complete various economic projects he has started. The government wished to retake the mandate of the opposition state of

Kelantan Kelantan (; Jawi: ; Kelantanese Malay: ''Klate'') is a state in Malaysia. The capital is Kota Bharu and royal seat is Kubang Kerian. The honorific name of the state is ''Darul Naim'' (Jawi: ; "The Blissful Abode"). Kelantan is located in th ...

from PAS, promising the Kelantanese people major development projects and jobs. Awang Adek Hussin, a deputy minister heading UMNO's campaign in Kelantan said that if voted in they would repair or build 500

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

s, including a Grand Mosque, to woo Muslim voters. In

Sabah Sabah () is a state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indonesia to the south. The Federal Territory o ...

, chief minister and Sabah BN chairman

Musa Aman Musa Bin Haji Aman ( Jawi: موسى بن حاج أمان; born 30 March 1951) is a Malaysian politician who served as the 14th Chief Minister, State Minister of Finance from March 2003 to May 2018, Member of the Sabah State Legislative Ass ...

announced that the same formula used in the 2004 election would be used in this election with regards to the allocation of seats among BN's component parties of Sabah. Sabah BN has used the same allocation formula for both the parliamentary election as well as for the state election. In this election, UMNO will contest in 13 parliamentary seats,

Parti Bersatu Sabah The United Sabah Party ( ms, Parti Bersatu Sabah, abbreviated PBS) is a political party of Sabah. The PBS was founded by Joseph Pairin Kitingan in 1985 and it is Sabah's oldest local party. In August 2020, PBS confirmed that they would be using ...

(PBS) will contest in four,

(UPKO) in four, Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) in two,

Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah The United Sabah People's Party ( ms, Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah; abbreviated: PBRS) is a minority political party based in Sabah, Malaysia. Presently PBRS is being led by its founding and first President; Joseph Kurup. PBRS is officially a c ...

(PBRS) in one, and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in one. BN coalition rolled out a major publicity campaign with a slogan promising "security, peace, prosperity" in advertisements that featured prominently in newspapers and on television.

Opposition

The main Malaysian opposition parties, which are the

(PKR),

(DAP) and the

(PAS), planned to deny the ruling coalition a

two-thirds majority 2/3 may refer to: * A fraction with decimal value 0.6666... * A way to write the expression "2 ÷ 3" ("two divided by three") * 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines of the United States Marine Corps * February 3 * March 2 Events Pre-1600 * 537 – ...

in Parliament in a bid to loosen the government's five-decade grip on power as reflected by their manifestos. The three parties highlighted Malaysia's rising crime rate, consumer-price inflation and government corruption throughout the election campaign. Civil Society groups unofficially merged five opposition parties under a banner called the Barisan Rakyat (People's Front) in which they agreed on certain policy matters, particularly two civil society documents: The People's Declaration, and The People's Voice; and agreed not to contest against each other in any seats. The five parties include DAP, PKR and PAS, as well as

Parti Sosialis Malaysia The Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM, ; ; ta, மலேசிய சோசியலிஸ்ட் கட்சி), is a socialist political party in Malaysia and an offshoot of Parti Rakyat Malaysia, which originally upheld the same ideology. ...

(PSM) and the United Pasok Nunukragang National Organisation (PASOK). Part of the opposition campaign took place in cyberspace and new media, utilising new technologies such as

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...

s, SMS and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

. Currently, major newspapers and television stations, which are partly owned by parties in the government coalition, only mention the opposition in passing. On 2 March, PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang challenged Abdullah Badawi to hold a televised

debate Debate is a process that involves formal discourse on a particular topic, often including a moderator and audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for often opposing viewpoints. Debates have historically occurred in public meetings, a ...

similar to those held by US presidential candidates. However, government leaders stated there was no place for such debates in Malaysia, claiming the focus should be on debating with locals concerning local issues affecting them. The Opposition had also increased focus on Abdullah Badawi's performance in the last few years and being a poor leader who sleeps on the job. They mentioned that as a result of his weak leadership, matters such as crime, corruption and racial and religious tensions have increased. On 4 March, campaigning in Malaysia's general election took on a personal tone as rivals slung accusations of nepotism, hypocrisy, boorish language and sexist tactics. It was also suggested Abdullah is grooming his son-in-law,

, as Malaysia's future leader. In terms of raising funds, the Opposition appealed to the public through websites and blogs for supporters to contribute funds through credit cards and bank transfers to help them print campaign posters and hold public forums. The Opposition had repeatedly pointed out that they are unable to match the ruling coalition's massive spending power.

Allegations of fraud

Previous elections in the country had fuelled complaints that an allegedly subservient Election Commission,

gerrymandering In representative democracies, gerrymandering (, originally ) is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent to create undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. The m ...

, vote fraud, compliant media, misuse of government resources and massive

vote buying Vote buying (also referred to as electoral clientelism and patronage politics) occurs when a political party or candidate distributes money or resources to a voter in an upcoming election with the expectation that the voter votes for the actor handi ...

gave the National Front or

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 ...

an unfair advantage. It had been highlighted to the Election Commission of Malaysia that its electoral roll has been suspect, because of the discovery that it contains nearly 9,000 people aged more than 100. This raised suspicions that the books are contaminated with dead voters which leaves the election vulnerable to fraud. Further discoveries of people who have been born in the same year possessing different identity cards (IC) and living in many different localities, were uncovered by Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections ( Mafrel). These people are registered to vote in various places throughout the country. These issues led to questions regarding the fairness of the elections. It was also highlighted by the Opposition that certain

postal vote Postal voting is voting in an election where ballot papers are distributed to electors (and typically returned) by post, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling station or electronically via an electronic voting system. In an el ...

rs were issued with two ballot sheets. This was discovered during checks with the Election Commission when they were preparing postal voting kits. Activists from BERSIH say each ballot was also attached to a letter identifying the voter along with the voting slip serial number, so it would be easy to trace who voted for the opposition. Electoral reform activists said that a number of seats that the opposition could win could be decided by postal votes and that those casting postal votes do not have the freedom to choose the candidate they want.

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

, which had been monitoring the election process, stated that government restraints on expression, assembly and access to state media would deny Malaysians a fair vote. Calling the electoral process "grossly unfair", Human Rights Watch called on the government to address concerns with fraud in the electoral rolls, and to provide opposition parties access to state media. ''De facto'' Law Minister Nazri Aziz accused Human Rights Watch of bias, saying they were attempting to discredit the electoral process because "they know the National Front will win". On 17 March, a week after the release of election results and one-third win by opposition parties, BERSIH claimed the Opposition would have obtained a parliamentary majority if not for fraud. Sivarasa Rasiah, BERSIH spokesperson and newly elected PKR MP for

Subang Subang may refer to: Indonesia * Subang, Kuningan, a town and district in Kuningan Regency, West Java * Subang Regency, a regency of West Java ** Subang, Subang, a town and district in Subang Regency, West Java Malaysia *Subang (federal constitue ...

, stated: Citing 72,058 unreturned ballot papers – of which 41,564 were for parliamentary seats and 30,494 for state assembly seats – BERSIH alleged that many of these ballots had in reality been cast for the opposition or spoilt but were discarded, further pointing to the fact that most of them were postal ballots. BERSIH spokespeople did not rule out further street demonstrations.

Use of indelible ink for voters

On 2 June 2007, the Election Commission made public the proposed use of indelible ink to mark participating voters at polling stations, and its use officially confirmed by the commission's chairman Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman on 13 August 2007. Its introduction was a measure precluding electoral fraud by preventing duplicate votes, and would mark the first time indelible ink was to be used in a Malaysian general election. Early reaction to the proposal was mixed. Both DAP secretary-general

Lim Guan Eng Lim Guan Eng (; born 8 December 1960) is a Malaysian politician and accountant from the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a component party of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bagan, Member of t ...

and PAS president

Abdul Hadi Awang Abdul Hadi bin Awang ( Jawi: عبدالهادي بن اواڠ; born 20 October 1947) is a Malaysian politician and religious teacher who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Marang since October 1990, 7th President of the Malaysian ...

welcomed the move, with Abdul Hadi's party voicing interest in the type of ink used. PKR vice-president Tian Chua initially remained sceptical unless the EC "implemented the system". Members of BN were more critical, with UMNO secretary-general Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad, MCA secretary-general

Ong Ka Chuan Ong Ka Chuan (; born 29 May 1954) is a Malaysian politician and was the Member of Parliament for Tanjung Malim, Perak from March 2008 to May 2018. Ong was the secretary-general for twice for the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), a component ...

and Gerakan vice-president Teng Hock Nan proposing the use of other systems, such as a fingerprint-based

biometrics Biometrics are body measurements and calculations related to human characteristics. Biometric authentication (or realistic authentication) is used in computer science as a form of identification and access control. It is also used to identify i ...

system, as alternatives. An additional comment by BN against the use of the indelible ink was the lack of assurance the ink used will contain safe or

halal ''Halal'' (; ar, حلال, ) is an Arabic word that translates to "permissible" in English. In the Quran, the word ''halal'' is contrasted with '' haram'' (forbidden). This binary opposition was elaborated into a more complex classification k ...

ingredients, taking into account Muslim voters. On 9 August, the National Fatwa Council declared the ink safe for use, after receiving a lab report from the Chemistry Department of

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia The National University of Malaysia ( ms, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, abbreviated as UKM) is a public university located in Bandar Baru Bangi, Hulu Langat District, Selangor, Malaysia. Its teaching hospital, Universiti Kebangsaan Malays ...

. On 4 March 2008, four days before polling, the commission announced it was cancelling the plan, citing concerns about the constitutionality of the measure – without a constitutional amendment permitting the practice, it could be illegal for a polling clerk to stop a voter from voting even if his or her finger was already marked with indelible ink. The Commission chair also claimed intelligence concerning possible conspiracies to undermine the electoral process by applying ink to the fingers of those who had not yet voted, and said it would be best to refrain from adopting the measure for the sake of public order and security. According to the Election Commission, the decision to cancel the use of indelible ink was based on reports that certain parties tried to "sabotage" the election process in

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 ...

and

Perlis Perlis, ( Northern Malay: ''Peghelih''), also known by its honorific title Perlis Indera Kayangan, is the smallest state in Malaysia by area and population. Located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it borders the Thai provinces ...

. The police has arrested several persons that tried to smuggle the ink through neighbouring

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

. Opposition parties widely condemned the move. PKR Deputy President Syed Husin Ali alleged that the commission was "colluding with BN to allow cheating in the coming general elections," and claimed that this was proof the government felt the Opposition would perform well on polling day. Dzulkifli Ahmad, a PAS and BERSIH leader, said that both organisations opposed the move, and that "We want to make it clear that we are entering this election under protest". Dzulkifli added that BERSIH would file a complaint after polling day. Lim Guan Eng declared that the decision would only benefit the ruling coalition, and demanded an explanation for the claim of adverse effects on public security: "It is ridiculous that the use of indelible ink can put the whole country into chaos and ruination." Lim condemned the waste incurred over RM2 million having been spent purchasing 47,000 bottles of indelible ink from India, as of 23 February, and said that the DAP would be investigating legal avenues to reverse the decision. Response from the ruling coalition was mixed. Deputy Prime Minister

Najib Tun Razak Dato' Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak ( ms, محمد نجيب بن عبد الرزاق, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset, ; born 23 July 1953) is a Malaysian politician who served as the 6th prime minister of Malays ...

, an UMNO leader, found the reversal "appropriate", citing concerns that people would be misled into applying similar-looking ink to their fingers, denying them the right to vote. In a statement, MCA described the measure as "disappointing", saying the late announcement meant opposition parties would unnecessarily politicise the situation. In response, several leaders of the Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel), including Mafrel chair Abdul Malek Hussin and deputy chair Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh, have refused to accept EC accrediting as official observers, saying they refused to legitimise the decision. Officially, they said, any EC-accredited Mafrel member could observe the polling process, and they would themselves carry out all other duties as observers, except those requiring EC accreditation such as observing the polling process from within polling stations. Abdul Malek added that Mafrel strongly protested the decision as contrary to its own recommendations, and compared the measure to withdrawing all currency from circulation because of the presence of counterfeit notes. He further questioned the legal reasoning behind the decision, arguing that as Parliament had speedily passed a constitutional amendment to extend the tenure of the EC chairperson, any necessary constitutional amendments could have been introduced and passed well in advance. After the election, Anwar Ibrahim claimed that the failure to use indelible ink had cost the PKR-DAP-PAS coalition 15 seats in Parliament, adding that "It is not unrealistic to imagine that we could actually have won a majority right then." Two weeks after the polls, several NGOs including the Malaysian Voters Union asked the Attorney-General to officially charge four men who they alleged had been arrested for involvement in the supposed conspiracy. As of 24 March 2008, the men had not been remanded by a court, nor charged with a crime; their arrest was not publicised. In May, Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar told Parliament in his written response to a question from Fong Po Kuan that "there was no evidence at all to show the ink was smuggled in from Thailand... From the witness statements, no individual, syndicate or any particular party was identified to be involved in this (ink smuggling). The complainant and witness' statement were based on hearsay and no individual was identified positively." Unused, the ink remained in storage until 25 November 2009, when it was burnt in accordance to government procedures. Prior to disposal, the ink was to be sold, but had passed its expiry date.

Incidents

Rusila (Terengganu) riot

Polling day was uneventful except a serious incident in Rusila, in Marang constituency in the east coast state of

Terengganu Terengganu (; Terengganu Malay: ''Tranung'', Jawi: ), formerly spelled Trengganu or Tringganu, is a sultanate and constitutive state of federal Malaysia. The state is also known by its Arabic honorific, ''Dāru l- Īmān'' ("Abode of Faith" ...

, where 300 supporters of the

(PAS) stopped several buses and cars they suspected carrying fraudulent voters ferried in by the coalition and confiscating

Malaysian identity card The Malaysian identity card ( ms, kad pengenalan Malaysia), is the compulsory identity card for Malaysian citizens aged 12 and above. The current identity card, known as MyKad, was introduced by the ''National Registration Department of Malaysia ...

s of the voters. When the police arrived to bring order, the PAS supporters were reported to have beaten up the police and destroyed police vehicles, including several Federal Reserve Unit ( Malaysian riot police) vehicles. A helicopter from the Royal Malaysian Army had to be called in. To break up the rioters, police fired tear gas, and the son of PAS president

was among those arrested.

Pullout of SAPP from BN

Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) has decided to pull out of the 14-member Barisan Nasional Government, taking away two MPs and at least two of its four assemblymen who will remain independent. The decision to pull out was made at the SAPP supreme council meeting where its president Datuk Yong Teck Lee obtained the support of nearly all of its 35 members and declared that SAPP was not joining Pakatan Rakyat. Yong said his party would remain independent in the opposition bench until a time came when SAPP was ready to be back in government.

Result commentary

As polls opened in Malaysia on 8 March from 8:00 to 17:00, voters cast ballots for 222 parliamentary seats and 12 state legislatures, with

among Malaysia's 10.9 million eligible voters estimated to be 70 percent. Barisan Nasional won 91 percent of parliamentary seats in 2004 election, but its majority is expected to be clipped this time as it suffers a backlash from ethnic Chinese and Indians. Early vote counting showed the Barisan Nasional was already faring badly in early tallies across the country with the exception of Sabah, Sarawak and Johor, as claimed by Kelantan

(UMNO) state chief Annuar Musa. The opposition began claiming using their own estimates that they have denied the government its

in parliament. Political scientists called these elections "stunning elections". Barisan Nasional was able to return to power and form the next government, with a simple majority but without the crucial two-thirds majority in parliament. It is BN's worst performance in Malaysia's general election (until

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

) since independence in 1957, winning only 63.5% (140 out of 222) of parliamentary seats that were contested; the only other time the 14-party coalition failed to win a two-thirds majority was in 1969 when it secured 66% of the seats. Component parties in BN, including the

(MCA), Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), and Gerakan, saw its number of state and federal seats severely reduced by half or more. UMNO also saw its number reduce significantly but not by as much as half. Also noted were MIC president S. Samy Vellu, Gerakan acting president Koh Tsu Koon and PPP president M. Kayveas, who were trounced in their respective election contests. The results of several states have been rather surprising to everybody involved. Many of the states BN have lost are those on the western coast of

Peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia ( ms, Semenanjung Malaysia; Jawi: سمننجڠ مليسيا), or the States of Malaya ( ms, Negeri-negeri Tanah Melayu; Jawi: نڬري-نڬري تانه ملايو), also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, ...

where it has traditionally focused most of its attention to. These states experienced more development and investment than other states, and account for much of the country's population. The remaining states that have given BN its simple majority are states that are economically weaker than what the opposition have gained.

Uncontested wins

On the nomination day, 24 February 2008, BN secured seven parliamentary seats and two state assembly seats uncontested. PAS also won a state seat after the BN nominee was found to have been declared bankrupt, although this was later disproved. On 26 February 2008, independent contender Junak Jawek dropped out of the polls for the new Parliamentary seat of Igan. Wahab Dolah of BN was declared the winner. This brings the total number of uncontested wins by National Front to ten seats as of 27 February 2008: eight parliamentary and two state seats. Some PKR candidates have alleged fraud, claiming they received offers from BN not to contest. Rahamat Idil Latip, the PKR candidate for the Parliamentary seat of Santubong, claimed he was told he would receive RM300,000 if he withdrew his nomination. After jokingly asking for RM3 million, he was told that it would be considered.

Pensiangan

One of the parliamentary seats won unopposed by BN was in P.182

Pensiangan Pensiangan is a small town in the state of Sabah in Malaysia. It is located in the Interior Division and is the capital of the district of Pensiangan. It is one of the most rural towns in Sabah located deep in the jungles of Borneo, and about 1 ...

(Sabah), which was won by

Joseph Kurup Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Joseph Kurup (born 15 December 1944) is a Malaysian politician who served as 1st and founding President of the Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS), a component party of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition from March 1 ...

(PBRS). The two candidates who were supposed to contest in this seat were Danny Anthony Andipai ( PKR) and Saineh (independent). Both were disqualified after submitting their nomination forms after 10:00 am. It was alleged by both rejected candidates that they were blocked from going to the nomination centre, resulting in both candidates submitting their candidacies late, at 10:25 am and 10:30 am, respectively. During the one-hour objection period from 11:00 am, Kurup raised objections to the late submissions and they were accepted by the returning officer; he then disqualified the two candidates from contesting. Police reports were later lodged on the matter in

Keningau Keningau ( ms, Pekan Keningau) is the capital of the Keningau District in the Interior Division of Sabah, Malaysia. It is the fifth-largest town in Sabah, as well one of the oldest. Keningau is between Tambunan and Tenom. The town had an es ...

. Joseph Kurup, on the other hand, claimed he was punched after being declared winner of the seat; he also lodged a police report on this matter. On 8 September 2008, Kota Kinabalu High Court judge Justice David Wong Dak Wah declared that the Pensiangan parliamentary seat which was won uncontested by Kurup invalid and Kurup's seat be left vacant, paving the way for a possible by-election for this constituency. Recent amendments to the election laws, however, allow Kurup to appeal the decision at the Federal Court. The petition was filed by Andipai, and had named Kurup, returning officer Bubudan OT Majalu, and the Election Commission as respondents. On 13 March 2009, The Federal Court in Kota Kinabalu overturned an Election Court decision on 8 Sep to strip Pensiangan MP Joseph Kurup of the seat and declare it vacant. Federal Court Judge Nik Hashim Nik Abdul Rahman who delivered the verdict held that Kurup was duly elected to the parliamentary constituency of P182 Pensiangan. Nik Hashim held that there had not been any failure on the part of the Returning Officer (RO) to comply with the election laws.

State-by-state development

Penang

The opposition dealt a heavy blow to the Barisan Nasional government by taking the state of Penang. Although Penang was regarded as a hotly contested state, the outcome unexpectedly turned out to be a landslide win with the opposition, the

(DAP) gaining the majority of the state seats. Many seats saw the opposition winning over two-thirds of the votes, rather than the usual 50-50 distribution. BN only won 2 of the 13 parliamentary seats and 11 of the 40 state seats, its worst performance in Malaysian history. In terms of party landscape, Gerakan, which has led the state since 1969 was defeated, and essentially wiped out of the political landscape, winning only 3 state seats and 2 parliamentary seats (none of which were in this state), not being able to hold on to a single seat in state or federal level—over 30 years of rule gone in one night. Some interesting individual constituencies include

Jeff Ooi Ooi Chuan Aun (; born 2 November 1955), better known as Jeff Ooi, is a Malaysian IT consultant, blogger, photographer and politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Jelutong for two terms from March 2008 to May 2018. He i ...

, who rose to fame with his blog that was constantly critical of the ruling government and made his first foray into politics this election under the DAP, winning the Jelutong parliamentary seat. Another significant blow was the defeat of Gerakan Acting President, Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, who was looking to move up from state politics, decided not to run for his state seat and subsequently gave up his Chief Minister post of 18 years, to challenge the Batu Kawan parliamentary seat. Some speculated this was part of a larger ambition to be a cabinet member, only to lose to newcomer P. Ramasamy of the DAP by a large margin of 9,485 votes.

Kedah

The state of

, which along with Penang, has traditionally produced a substantial bulk of past and present BN leaders (including

Tunku Abdul Rahman Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah ( ms, ‏تونكو عبد الرحمن ڤوترا الحاج ابن سلطان عبد الحميد حليم شاه, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; 8 Febru ...

, and Mahathir Mohamad), also overwhelmingly rose to the call of the opposition. BN only won 4 of the 15 parliamentary seats but did better by winning 14 out of 36 state seats, while the Opposition took the remaining 22 of the 36 state seats, with the

(PAS) winning 16,

(PKR) four and the DAP and an independent, one each.

Kelantan

PAS retained control of the state of

, despite a vigorous campaign by the ruling Barisan Nasional, winning 38 of the 45 state assembly seats along with PKR (which has won one seat). It was a personal setback for Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who had promised millions of dollars in development aid, intending to boost the chances of the Barisan Nasional coalition. The win marked the fifth consecutive time PAS retained power in Kelantan since

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

and surpasses PAS's previous record of continuous electoral wins in Kelantan—four between

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

and 1978.

Selangor

Being the most developed state of the country and receiving the most absolute benefits due to spillover effects from developing the capital,

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

, Barisan Nasional party leaders were blindsided when

Selangor Selangor (; ), also known by its Arabic language, Arabic honorific Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity", is one of the 13 Malaysian states. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the east ...

rose to the call of the opposition. Many thought it was a safe stronghold of BN loyalists as it has been all along a centralist state leaning towards BN. According to '' The Stars summary of the state: "Barisan will undoubtedly retain the state but look out for some interesting, even tough, fights in certain parliamentary and state seats where the Opposition is fielding some strong candidates". Far from being the truth, BN ended up with only 5 of the 22 parliamentary seats and 20 of the 56 state seats, leaving the state government in opposition hands. The state

Bernama The Malaysian National News Agency ( ms, Pertubuhan Berita Nasional Malaysia), is a news agency of the government of Malaysia. It is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia. Bernama (usually stylized in all caps) ...

news agency said that opposition parties had claimed 35 of the 56 seats in the Selangor state legislature but did not give a breakdown between PAS and the other parties.

Perak

In Perak, the Barisan Nasional suffered shock losses, including MIC president S. Samy Vellu's

Sungai Siput Sungai Siput (U) ( Jawi: سوڠاي سيڤوت; Tamil: சுங்கை சீப்புட்) (English: Snail River) is a town and mukim in Kuala Kangsar District, Perak, Malaysia, covering 155.141 hectares, 61.5% of the total area of Kua ...

seat and PPP president M. Kayveas's

Taiping __NOTOC__ Taiping, Tai-p’ing, or Tai Ping most often refers to: Chinese history * Princess Taiping (died 713), Tang dynasty princess * Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864), civil war in southern China ** Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1851–1864), the re ...

seat. UMNO suffered several major setbacks in the party's traditional strongholds, while most MCA, MIC, PPP and Gerakan candidates were defeated by DAP candidates. Perak was nonetheless one of the most tightly contested state of the nation with BN-Opposition parliamentary seats split into 13-11 and state seats into 28–31, still giving the opposition the chance to decide the state's government.

Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

is a federal territory divided into 11 parliamentary constituencies. In this election, the opposition won ten seats (five are held by DAP, four by PKR, and one by PAS), while Barisan Nasional won only one. In the previous election, BN held 7 seats while DAP held 4 seats.

Establishment of Opposition-led state governments

With substantial wins in several states, opposition parties were required to form state governments led by Opposition members on a scale unseen in recent decades. In Penang, the

(DAP) formed the next state government with

, who is also the party's Secretary General, as its designated next

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

. Two days later, the new Chief Minister appointed two Deputy Chief Ministers, Penanti assemblyman Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin of PKR and Prai assemblyman P. Ramasamy of DAP. P. Ramasamy became the first ethnic Indian to be appointed as deputy chief minister in a Malaysian state. The coalition consisting of mainly

(PAS) formed the next state government in Kedah, after winning 22 out of 36 seats. Out of the 22 seats, 16 were won by PAS, 4 by PKR, and 1 each by DAP and an independent candidate. Kedah's state PAS commissioner,

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 ...

, has been sworn in as the ninth Kedah ''

Menteri Besar In Malaysia, the Menteri Besar ( Jawi:منتري بسر; literally ''First Minister''), colloquially referred to as MB, is the head of government of each of nine states in Malaysia with hereditary rulers. For four states without a monarch, the t ...

''. The sole independent candidate who won, V. Arumugam, was chosen to be one of the 10 state executive councillors for the state. In Kelantan,

Nik Aziz Nik Mat Nik Abdul Aziz bin Nik Mat ( Jawi: ; 10 January 1931 – 12 February 2015) was a Malaysian politician and Muslim cleric. He was the Menteri Besar of Kelantan from 1990 to 2013 and the ''Mursyidul Am'' or Spiritual Leader of the Pan-Malaysian I ...

received his letter of appointment as Kelantan ''Menteri Besar'' on the night of 11 March for the fifth consecutive term from the Sultan of Kelantan,

Sultan Ismail Petra Sultan Ismail Petra ibni Almarhum Sultan Yahya Petra ( Jawi: ; 11 November 1949 – 28 September 2019) was the 28th Sultan of Kelantan who reigned from 30 March 1979 to 13 September 2010. He succeeded on the death of his father, Sultan Yahy ...

. Three state assemblymen, including Wan Ubaidah Wan Omar (Kijang), Dr Fazli Hassan (Temangan) and Che Abdullah Mat Nawi (Wakaf Baru), were also appointed as state executive councillors. The next designated ''Menteri Besar'' of Selangor was speculated to be PKR's

Khalid Ibrahim Abdul Khalid bin Ibrahim ( ms, عبدالخالد بن إبراهيم, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; 14 December 1946 – 31 July 2022) was a Malaysian politician who served as the 14th Menteri Besar of Selangor from 2008 to 2014. H ...

. However, Khalid failed to get the consent from the Sultan, who stated he would like to meet representative from DAP and PAS first. After meeting representative of each party, Khalid Ibrahim was finally sworn in on 13 March 2008. The ten other state executive councillors (exco) were sworn in on 24 March. This marked the first time where four out of ten exco members were women and where five out of ten of them were non-Malays. BN-Opposition parliamentary seats in Perak were split into 13-11 and state seats into 28–31, still giving the opposition the chance to decide the state's government. It was confirmed Mohammad Nizar Jamaludin was to become the next ''Menteri Besar'' of Perak by the Regent of Perak Raja Nazrin Shah. Sitiawan state assemblyperson Ngeh Koo Ham was also appointed "Senior Exco Member". An Indian candidate will be appointed the second deputy ''Menteri Besar'', the candidates being DAP's A Sivanesan (Sungkai), KS Keshvinder Singh (Malim Nawar), V. Sivakumar (Tronoh) and A Sivasubramaniam (Buntong), and PKR's S Kesavan but this never materialised. The appointment of the Perak ''Menteri Besar'' was not without drama as the coalition was not seen as cooperative. After the regent of Perak give consent on the informal coalition of DAP-PKR-PAS, each party submitted one name for the post of the new ''Menteri Besar'', the regent of Perak having selected PAS nominee, Mohamad Nizar. DAP assemblymen were instructed to boycott the swearing-in ceremony which was supposed to be held on 13 March 2008 as instructed by DAP advisor

Lim Kit Siang Lim Kit Siang (; born 20 February 1941) is a Malaysian politician. He is the longest-serving leader of the opposition in Malaysia, having held the position for a total of 29 years on three separate occasions. He is also former Secretary-Genera ...

, a statement which he retracted and apologised to the Perak Sultanate the following day. Seeing a tussle between DAP and PAS, the Regent of Perak decided to postpone the swearing in ceremony until he sees a letter of undertaking signed by all 31 assemblyman voicing support of the appointment of Mohamad Nizar Jamaludin as the ''Menteri Besar''. By February 2009, the balance of power in Perak was tipped in favour of BN following the defection of four Opposition assemblymen, leading to a political crisis in the state and the eventual retaking of Perak by BN.

Political crisis in Terengganu

The state of

, which

won with a two-thirds majority, was the last state to have no appointed Menteri Besar. In the formation of the new Terengganu state government, the government under Prime Minister Abdullah recommended

Jerteh Jertih (or commonly known as Jerteh) is the most populous town in Besut District, Terengganu, Malaysia. It has been represented by Idris bin Jusoh since 2013 in Dewan Rakyat (Malaysian House of Representatives). Reside Jerteh contain a hospital c ...

assemblyman

Idris Jusoh Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Haji Idris bin Jusoh ( Jawi: إدريس بن جوسوه; born 15 November 1955) is a Malaysian politician who has served as Chairman of the Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) since May 2020. He served as the Mini ...

, as

, which received full support of twenty-three of the 24 Barisan Nasional state assemblymen who elected. But the Sultan of Terengganu announced that Kijal assemblyman Ahmad Said had been appointed instead. The Prime Minister claimed that the appointment of Ahmad Said was unconstitutional as it went against the wishes of the assemblymen and the Prime Minister's office who have supported Idris Jusoh candidacy for ''Menteri Besar''. Ahmad Said was subsequently stripped of his UMNO membership "for disobeying the party's leadership". Eventually the Prime Minister and Sultan resolved the stand-off, with Ahmad being appointed as Menteri Besar.

Proposed return of elected Kuala Lumpur mayors

On 10 March, Cheras MP

Tan Kok Wai Tan Kok Wai () (born 7 October 1957) is a Malaysian politician who served as Special Envoy to the Prime Minister to China in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration under former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad from August 2018 to March 2020. ...

(DAP) mooted the possibility of having

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

al elections for

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

, but the Federal Constitution needs to be amended to allow such a change. There had not been an elected mayor in Malaysia since such elections were suspended in 1965.

Penang protests

On 14 March, several hundred protesters from the Malay community gathered in Chinese majority Penang as a response to a declaration by the Penang government under Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng that they would abolish certain aspects of the New Economical Policy (NEP), which implementation remains a contentious issue in the country. The protesters were dispersed by riot police officers, but vowed to return for more protests.

Economy

Political uncertainty as a result of the formation of a significantly different Malaysian government, coupled with worries of a global economic slowdown due to negative economic development from the United States, led to uneasiness among investors in the benchmark

Kuala Lumpur Composite Index The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI, also known as the FBM KLCI, is a capitalisation-weighted stock market index, composed of the 30 largest companies on the Bursa Malaysia by market capitalisation that meet the eligibility requirements of the FTSE Bu ...

(KLCI) and an immediate plunge in the KLCI. On 10 March, the first trading day since the election, stocks in the KLCI fell 9.5%, or 123.11 points, from 1,296.33 points to 1,173.22 points by 5.00 pm ( MST), its biggest one-day decline in a decade. Trading in the KLCI was automatically halted for an hour after stocks fell beyond the 20% by 29.8%, as a measure to curb

panic selling Panic selling is a large-scale selling of an investment that causes a sharp decline in prices. Specifically, an investor wants to sell an investment with little regard to the price obtained. The sale is problematic because the investor is reacting ...

; the KLCI resumed trading at 4.00 pm. Among trading companies severely affected were

government-linked companies A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the government ...

, including blue chip

Sime Darby Sime Darby Berhad () is a Malaysian trading conglomerate. Its core businesses operate and serve in the industrial, motors and logistics sectors as well as the healthcare, and insurance segments. Background The modern Sime Darby Berhad corpo ...

, (down 50%), UEM World (down 24%), ''

Tenaga Nasional Tenaga Nasional Berhad (, abbreviated as TNB; TENAGA, ), also known as Tenaga Nasional or simply Tenaga, is the Malaysian multinational electricity company and is the only electric utility company in Peninsular Malaysia and also the largest p ...

'' (down 15%) and the Malaysian Resources Corporation (down 34–39%). By the end of 12 March, the KLCI was able to recoup 60% of its losses, before suffering losses due to unfavourable developments on the ongoing subprime mortgage crisis in the US. The value of the ringgit had also dropped by a little over 1% against the US dollar, trading at RM3.2075 per

US dollar The United States dollar ( symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the officia ...

on 10 March, down from the previous trading day's close of around RM3.166 to the dollar. Government

bond Bond or bonds may refer to: Common meanings * Bond (finance), a type of debt security * Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States * Chemical bond, the attraction of atoms, ions or molecules to form chemica ...

prices ticked down at the open, with the yield on the 10-year benchmark rising up to 3.754 percent from 3.708 percent on Friday. An analyst remarked foreign investors had lost the political stability premium enjoyed prior to the election and might abandon investment prospects in Malaysia. Doubts on the prospect of large scale projects initiated or managed by the Abdullah Badawi administration between 2004 and 2008 were also highlighted; the Opposition vowed to assess major government projects, including the DAP's plans to review the

Penang Global City Centre The Penang Global City Centre (PGCC) was a proposed project to be located at Penang Turf Club on Penang Island, Malaysia. The developers who proposed PGCC hoped to use divided between two five-star hotels, a Penang performing arts centre, a ...

, a $7.8 billion real estate development project in Penang which have not gain approval from the local state council even after launching ceremony was held officiated by Malaysia's Prime Minister, Abdullah Badawi. The administration's previous proposals to form economical hubs in the northern,

eastern Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

and southern regions of the Malaysian Peninsula,

and

had previously attracted investors, local and foreign, and boasted the KLCI, but also raised questions on how the cost of billion-ringgit projects will be paid for. Other analysts see the emergence of a stronger Opposition in the parliament as an opportunity for improved transparency and corporate governance. A managing director of a multinational asset management house commented "A powerful opposition is a positive development in the longer term, providing some checks and balances for trillion-ringgit government spending." Standard & Poor's Ratings Services reports the general election has no immediate effect on the sovereign ratings on Malaysia and still maintains both the local and foreign currency rating for the country. It added budgetary decisions and fiscal policies are still in the ruling party's hands as it only requires a 51% majority instead of a two-thirds majority. Moody's Rating Service also shares in view and did not change its sovereign rating of A3.

International reaction

On 9 March,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

State Department spokesman Kurtis Cooper issued a statement that the US government is ready to co-operate with the newly formed Malaysian government, adding Abdullah remains a viable partner for the US "on a wide range of issues of mutual interest", despite BN's heavy losses in the election and decreased popularity of the party. Among them was the planned conclusion of stalled

Free Trade Agreement A free-trade agreement (FTA) or treaty is an agreement according to international law to form a free-trade area between the cooperating states. There are two types of trade agreements: bilateral and multilateral. Bilateral trade agreements occ ...

negotiations between Malaysia and the US before the

2008 United States presidential election The 2008 United States presidential election was the 56th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator f ...

References

External links

Official Election Commission of Malaysia website

Official results of the 2008 Malaysian general election

Official National Front campaign website

Undi.info
hosted by

Malaysiakini ''Malaysiakini'' (meaning in English: "Malaysia Now") is an online news portal published in Malay, English, Chinese and Tamil. Malaysiakini receives over 2.3 million page-views per day on desktop and mobile. Alexa ranked ''malaysiakini.co ...

Manifestos
National Front Manifesto

KeADILan Manifesto

Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party Manifesto

DAP manifesto
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malaysian General Election, 2008 *

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Results

Dewan Rakyat

Results by state

Johor

Kedah

Kelantan

Kuala Lumpur

Labuan

Malacca

Negeri Sembilan

Pahang

Penang

Perak

Perlis

Putrajaya

Sabah

Sarawak

Selangor

Terengganu

State Assemblies

Background

Key dates

Issues and public sentiments

Campaigning and strategies

Government

Opposition

Allegations of fraud

Use of indelible ink for voters

Incidents

Rusila (Terengganu) riot

Pullout of SAPP from BN

Result commentary

Uncontested wins

Pensiangan

State-by-state development

Penang

Kedah

Kelantan

Selangor

Perak

Kuala Lumpur

Establishment of Opposition-led state governments

Political crisis in Terengganu

Proposed return of elected Kuala Lumpur mayors

Penang protests

Economy

International reaction

See also

Further reading

References

External links