General elections were held in the

Federation of Malaya Malaya, officially the Federation of Malaya, was a country in Southeast Asia from 1948 to 1963. It succeeded the Malayan Union and, before that, British Malaya. It comprised eleven states – nine Malay states and two of the Straits Settleme ...

on Wednesday, 27 July 1955, the only

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

before

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in 1957. They were held to elect members of the

Federal Legislative Council The Federal Legislative Council (also known simply as the Legislative Council) was the legislative body of the Federation of Malaya and the predecessor of the Malaysian Parliament. It was formed in 1948 after the abolition of the Malayan Union an ...

, whose members had previously been fully appointed by the

British High Commissioner In the Commonwealth of Nations, a high commissioner is the senior diplomat, generally ranking as an ambassador, in charge of the diplomatic mission of one Commonwealth government to another. Instead of an embassy, the diplomatic mission is genera ...

. Voting took place in all 52 federal constituencies, each electing one member. State elections also took place in all 136 state constituencies in nine states of Malaya and two settlements from 10 October 1954 to 12 November 1955, each electing one councillor to the State Council or Settlement Council. The Pan-Malayan Islamic Party (PMIP) was formed primarily to contest in the 1955 elections. Previously the PMIP had been known as the "Pan-Malayan Islamic Association", as a part of the

United Malays National Organisation The United Malays National Organisation (Abbreviation, abbrev: UMNO; , PEKEMBAR) is a Conservatism, conservative, Nationalism, Malay nationalist political party in Malaysia. As the oldest national political party in the country (since its ince ...

(UMNO). PMIP won support by proclaiming its aim of making

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

the base of the Malay society in the north of

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula is located in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area contains Peninsular Malaysia, Southern Tha ...

, which was facing the lowest economic growth in Malaya. The elections resulted in a decisive win for the Alliance Party, an alliance of the UMNO, the

Malayan Chinese Association The Malaysian Chinese Association ( abbrev: MCA; Malay: ''Persatuan Cina Malaysia''), formerly known as the Malayan Chinese Association, is an ethnic political party in Malaysia that seeks to represent the Malaysian Chinese ethnicity; it was ...

(MCA) and Malayan Indian Congress (MIC), and a resounding defeat for Parti Negara, led by former UMNO president Onn Jaafar. Onn himself failed to win a seat, while the Alliance proceeded to form the new government, with its leader

Tunku Abdul Rahman Tunku Abdul Rahman (8 February 19036 December 1990), commonly referred to as Tunku, was a Malaysian statesman who served as prime minister of Malaysia from 1957 to 1970. He previously served as the only chief minister of Federation of Malaya ...

becoming Chief Minister. Thirty Alliance candidates had majorities of over 10,000 votes. Nine of them had majorities of over 20,000. Forty-three of their opponents lost their deposits.

Timelines

Federal Legislative Council

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

State Council

Settlement Council

Results

The Alliance Party won around 80% of the total vote and 51 out of 52 seats contested. PMIP won their only seat in Krian, Perak. Its sole winning candidate, Haji Ahmad Tuan Hussein, an Islamic scholar, was subsequently nicknamed "Mr. Opposition". Voter turnout was 82.8%.

Results by state

Johore

Kedah

Kelantan

Malacca

Negri Sembilan

Pahang

Penang

Perak

Perlis

Selangor

Terengganu

State and Settlement Councils

Notes

References

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

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Political history of Malaya July 1955 in Asia {{Malaysia-election-stub