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, 19 August 1959 for members of the first Parliament of the Federation of Malaya, the first parliamentary election in Malaya. It was the third national-wide election held in Malaya since the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. This would be the last Malayan election, before the country was superseded by

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

with three other states of

Sarawak Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

and

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

in 1963. Voting took place in all 104 parliamentary constituencies of Malaya, each electing one Member of Parliament to the Dewan Rakyat, the dominant house of Parliament. Voter turnout was 73.34%. Prior to the general election, state elections took place in all 282 state constituencies in 11 states of Malaya from 20 May to 24 June 1959, each electing one Member to the State Legislative Assembly, the

Dewan Undangan Negeri In Malaysia, a state legislative assembly, officially Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN), is the legislative branch of the state governments in each of the 13 Malaysian states. Members of a state legislative assembly comprises elected representatives ...

. As a result, PAS took over the administration of

Terengganu Terengganu (; Terengganu Malay: ''Tranung'', formerly spelled Trengganu or Tringganu) is a sultanate and States and federal territories of Malaysia, federal state of Malaysia. The state is also known by its Arabic honorific, ''Dāru l-Iman (c ...

and

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

but served only 2 terms before being retaken by

Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or sovereign state, states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an a ...

. The results saw Alliance Party emerged as the victor in a

landslide victory A landslide victory is an election result in which the winning Candidate#Candidates in elections, candidate or political party, party achieves a decisive victory by an overwhelming margin, securing a very large majority of votes or seats far beyo ...

. The party was a coalition formed by

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 ...

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 ...

and Malayan Indian Congress. The coalition won 74 out of 104 seats in the

Dewan Rakyat The Dewan Rakyat (; Jawi script, Jawi: ), is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Malaysia, Parliament which is the federal legislature of Malaysia. The chamber and its powers are established by Article 44 of the Constitu ...

with only 52% of the total vote. The opposition as a whole won 30 seats with 48% of the vote. Three

candidates contested unopposed. The 71% majority allowed Alliance Party to form a government as sanctioned by the constitution of Malaya. When results were announced on the morning of 20 August, only 103 seats were returned as elections in the ''Kedah Tengah'' (''Central

Kedah Kedah (), also known by its honorific Darul Aman (Islam), Aman (دار الأمان; Arabic for 'The Safe Abode') and historically as Queda, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of ...

'') constituency was delayed until 30 September. The Alliance proceeded to win this seat with Khir Johari as the winning candidate.

Timelines

Dewan Rakyat

Source: *Nomination date: 15 July 1959 *Election day: 19 August 1959

State legislative assemblies

Results

Registered voters above refers to total voters of the contested constituencies. Total electorate for the 1959 elections is 2177755 which includes uncontested parliamentary constituencies of Port Dickson, Johore Tenggara and Kemaman. ''Information for the division of voters between Labour Party of Malaya and Parti Ra'ayat is limited''

By state

Source:

Johore

The registered voters refers to total voters of the contested constituencies.Total electorate of Johor including uncontested constituency of Johore Tenggara is 291230 voters.

Kedah

Kelantan

Malacca

Negeri Sembilan

Registered voters shown above refers to the total number of voters of contested constituencies. Actual elctorate size of Negeri Sembilan is 111336 voters which includes uncontesed constituency of Port Dickson.

Pahang

Penang

Perak

Perlis

Selangor

Terengganu

The registered voters above refer to total voters of contested constituencies. The total electorate of Trengganu is 114898 which includes uncontested parliamentary constituency of Kemaman

State Assemblies

References

External links

Documentary video about the 1959 elections
Government of Malaysia (in Malay) {{Malaysian elections General elections in Malaysia Malaya

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 August 1959 in Asia