Elections in Malaysia include elections to public office of the political entities that since 1963 have composed the federation of Malaysia. At present, elections in Malaysia exist at two levels: federal level and state level. Federal level elections are those for membership in the Dewan Rakyat, the lower house of Parliament, while state level elections are for membership in the various State Legislative Assemblies. The heads of executive branch at both the federal and state levels, the Prime Minister and Menteri Besar/Chief Ministers respectively, are usually indirectly elected, filled by a member of the majority party/coalition in the respective legislatures.
While any state may dissolve its assembly independently of the Federal Parliament, the traditional practice is for most state assemblies to be dissolved at the same time as Parliament, with the exception of Sabah and Sarawak, although these two states had held elections simultaneously with the rest of the country, as it is the case for Sabah in elections from 2004 to 2018, and Sarawak in the 1969 and 1974 elections. The practice of holding simultaneous elections was disrupted following the 2020–2022 Malaysian political crisis, with only three states holding state elections at the same time as the 2022 parliamentary general election.
Latest election
Federal level
At the federal level, voters elect the 222-member House of Representatives (, literally "Hall of the People") of the bicameral Parliament. Members are elected from single-member constituencies drawn based on population using the first past the post system. The party that has the majority of the House of Representatives will form the federal government.
The Constitution of Malaysia requires that a general election must be held at least once every five years. However, the Prime Minister can ask the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to dissolve the Parliament at any time before this five-year period has expired. A general election should be held no later than 60 days after the dissolution of the Parliament.
Since independence, the parliamentary elections have most often been won by the Barisan Nasional (National Front, abbreviated BN, and its predecessor, the Alliance), a coalition of fourteen parties. The 1969 election saw the first time the Alliance failed to attain a two-thirds majority in Parliament (two-thirds majority being the majority required to pass most constitutional amendments), which happened again in the 2008 and 2013 elections; the latter also saw the BN losing the popular vote while retaining the majority of seats. In the 2018 general elections, the Pakatan Harapan coalition defeated the BN at the federal level for the first time in history.
State level At the state level, voters elect representatives to the Dewan Undangan Negeri (State Legislative Assembly). The number of representatives varies between the different states, with as many as 82 electorates in Sarawak and as little as 15 in Perlis. Members are elected from single-member constituencies drawn based on population using the first-past-the-post system. The party that forms the majority of the state assembly will form the state government.
State assembly constituencies are smaller in area and population than the parliamentary constituencies. Each parliamentary constituency outside of the federal territories is subdivided into a number of state assembly constituencies, usually two or three but can be as many as six.
Traditionally, state elections are held simultaneously with the parliamentary election but each state can decide when to hold its election. This is because state assemblies are dissolved by their respective Ruler or governor on the advice of the chief minister of the state. For example, following the 1977 Kelantan Emergency, a snap election was called in Kelantan in March 1978, months ahead of the general election in July 1978. A more recent example is that in the 1999 general election, the state elections of the 11 states on Peninsular Malaysia were held simultaneously with the parliamentary election, while Sabah already had its state election months earlier and the Sarawak state assembly was not due for election until 2001. In the 2004 and 2008 general elections, the state election of Sabah were held simultaneously with the parliamentary election as well, but Sarawak held its state election in 2006 and 2011.Polling In Sarawak State Election Completed . (20 May 2006). BERNAMA.
The practice of holding simultaneous elections was disrupted following the 2018 elections and the 2020–2022 Malaysian political crisis. Early state elections took place in Sabah (2020), Malacca (2021) and Johor (2022). Sarawak held its delayed state election in December 2021. When the 14th Parliament was dissolved on 10 October 2022 to make way for the 15th general election, six out of nine states with elections due in 2023 opted not to dissolve their state assemblies at the same time, leaving only three states (Pahang, Perak and Perlis) holding state elections concurrently with the parliamentary election.
Before the 2008 elections, the Barisan Nasional and its predecessor the Alliance controlled most of the state assemblies in every election, while occasionally losing some states, most notably Kelantan which was controlled by the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) from 1959 to 1978 (the last four years as part of BN) and again since 1990. The worst result for the Alliance was in 1969, when it lost its majority in Perak, Selangor and Penang in addition to Kelantan. In the 2008 elections, in addition to Kelantan, BN lost four states (Penang, Kedah, Perak and Selangor) to the loose coalition of opposition parties (later known as the Pakatan Rakyat (People's Pact, abbreviated PR)) composed of PAS, Democratic Action Party (DAP) and People's Justice Party (PKR). Perak was returned to BN control in 2009 following a constitutional crisis. In the 2013 elections, BN recaptured the state of Kedah, leaving Kelantan, Penang and Selangor in PR control.
Following the 2018 elections, the BN only retained control of the states of Perlis, Pahang and Sarawak. PAS retains Kelantan while capturing Terengganu. The Pakatan Harapan coalition retains control of Penang and Selangor as well as capturing the states of Kedah, Perak, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka and Johor. An informal alliance between Parti Warisan Sabah and Pakatan Harapan also took control of the state of Sabah. BN still remained governing the state of Sarawak, which they won in the state elections held in 2016, until the Sarawak BN parties left the coalition in 2018, thus forming Gabungan Parti Sarawak.
In 2023, after 2022 Malaysian general election held in 19 November 2022, an official local coalition of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah took control of the state of Sabah and the Gabungan Parti Sarawak remained governing the state of Sarawak. Meanwhile, an informal alliance between Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional took control of West Malaysia.
Local government elections
Although there used to be elections for members of local governments such as municipal councils, today, no local government elections are held in Malaysia. Local government elections were suspended after the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation in 1964. The suspension was never lifted and instead made permanent under the Local Government Act 1976. Under the Act, or the laws of individual states where relevant, local government members are appointed by the state government.Rahman, Rashid A. (1994). The Conduct of Elections in Malaysia, p. 10. Kuala Lumpur: Berita Publishing. .
After Minister and People's Progressive Party President M. Kayveas raised concerns about local governments in late 2005, some suggested reviving local government elections. However, in an opinion column of the New Straits Times (owned by the United Malays National Organisation or UMNO, leading party of the Barisan Nasional) quoted a professor from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia as saying that such elections would not be brought back because "policymakers know from experience worldwide that the Opposition tends to dominate such councils as part of the electorate's desire for checks-and-balances." The professor also stated that due to required constitutional changes, it would be difficult for such amendments to pass muster in Parliament. The column also quoted a government ministry as saying that "holding elections are expensive affairs".
As of 2008, the Pakatan Rakyat states' governments would like to implement the local government election in their states. However, these was not carried out due to the Federal Constitution which prohibits the implementation. It was only after Pakatan Harapan won the 2018 Malaysian general election that the new government began the process of looking into and reintroducing local elections after 55 years, with a trial run slated for 2019 in select cities.
By-elections
In addition to general elections, a by-election occurs when a particular seat in the Dewan Rakyat becomes vacant. Such a vacancy can occur when, a member of parliament (MP) dies, and an MP is disqualified from being a member of the Dewan Rakyat; a seat is declared vacant because the MP has been absent from every sitting of the Dewan Rakyat for a period of six months without leave of the Dewan Rakyat, and the members of the Dewan Rakyat have decided to declare the seat vacant. The exception is if the vacancy occurs when the tenure for the current Parliament or state assembly is less than two years, where the seat is simply left vacant until the next general election.
Electoral district boundaries
It is the role of the Election Commission to draw, review and re-delineate electoral district boundaries. The last delineation was made on 21 March 2003. As of 2013, there are a total of 222 parliamentary districts and 576 state assembly districts in Malaysia. The EC has been accused of practising gerrymandering during delineation exercises.
Under Article 113 of the Constitution of Malaysia, the EC may conduct a review and recommend changes to electoral boundaries at an interval of not less than 8 years from the last review and delineation.
Election process Elections are supervised by a seven-member Election Commission. Its members are appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong following the advice of the Prime Minister.
Nomination process Nomination centres are set up in various locations by the Election Commission to allow candidates to register themselves. Typically any Malaysian citizen may register as a candidate unless disqualified. Candidates file the appropriate forms and place a monetary deposit. The deposit was RM5000 to contest a parliamentary seat, or RM3000 to contest a state assembly seat. This amount was changed to RM 10,000 and RM 5,000 respectively in 2004. Additionally in 2004 it was required that each candidate provide a RM 5,000 deposit for cleaning up banners and posters after the election. This increase is seen by some as having led to the government winning a record number of seats without contest in 2004 (17 parliamentary seats were won without contest). The deposit is used to pay for infringements of election laws and is returned after polling day unless the candidate loses and fails to garner more than 1/8 of the vote.Rahman, p. 133.
As of the 2004 elections, candidates may have a lawyer present at these proceedings. Some candidates have been disqualified from previous elections as they lacked the competence to fill in the forms correctly.
In 2004 candidates were given 1-hour to fill in and return their nomination forms as opposed to 2 hours previously. This led to disqualification of certain candidates who were unaware of the change.
Campaigning