1969 Malaysian general election

General elections were held in Malaysia on Saturday, 10 May 1969, although voting was postponed until between 6 June and 4 July 1970 in Sabah and Sarawak.[1] This election marked the first parliamentary election held in Sabah and Sarawak after the formation of Malaysia in 1963.

1969 Malaysian general election

← 1964 10 May 1969 – 4 July 1970 1974 →

All 144 seats in the Dewan Rakyat
73 seats needed for a majority
Registered3,439,313
Turnout73.53%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Tunku Abdul Rahman Burhanuddin al-Helmy Goh Hock Guan
Party Alliance PAS DAP
Last election 58.53%, 89 seats 14.64%, 9 seats 2.05%, 1 seat
Seats won 74 12 13
Seat change Decrease 15 Increase 3 Increase 12
Popular vote 1,076,507 501,123 286,606
Percentage 44.94% 20.92% 11.96%
Swing Decrease13.59pp Increase6.28pp Increase9.91pp

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
  SUPP
Leader Syed Hussein Alatas S. P. Seenivasagam Ong Kee Hui
Party Gerakan PPP SUPP
Last election 3.40%, 2 seats 3 seats
Seats won 8 4 5
Seat change New Increase 2 Increase 2
Popular vote 178,971 80,756 72,754
Percentage 7.47% 3.37% 3.04%
Swing New Decrease0.04pp

  Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party
 
Leader Stephen Kalong Ningkan Mustapha Harun Jugah Barieng
Party SNAP USNO Pesaka
Last election 4 seats 6 seats
Seats won 9 13 2
Seat change Increase 5 Increase 7 New
Popular vote 64,593 13,634 30,765
Percentage 2.70% 0.57% 1.28%
Swing New


Prime Minister before election

Tunku Abdul Rahman
Alliance

Prime Minister-designate

Tunku Abdul Rahman
Alliance

The elections resulted in the return to power, with a reduced majority, of the ruling Alliance Party, comprising the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the Malayan Chinese Association, and the Malayan Indian Congress. The Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan) and the Democratic Action Party (DAP), which had campaigned against Bumiputra privileges outlined by Article 153 of the Constitution, made major gains in the election.[2] Voter turnout was 73.6%. Opposition won 54 seats in total causing the Alliance to lose its two-thirds majority in the Parliament (two-thirds majority being the majority required to pass most constitutional amendments) for the first time.

The elections also saw Alliance lose its majority in Perak, Selangor and Penang in addition to Kelantan. The result of the election and subsequent reactions would cause widespread race riots also known as the 13 May Incident. As a consequence of this incident, the federal government decided to suspend parliament and government administration was monitored by MAGERAN until 1971.[3] It also marked the end of Tunku Abdul Rahman's administration as Prime Minister before he was succeeded by Tun Abdul Razak several months later. Razak would then seek the main purpose to establish the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur.[4]

State elections also took place in 330 state constituencies in 12 (out of 13, except Sabah) states of Malaysia on the same day.

Results

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Dewan Rakyat

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Candidates were returned unopposed in 19 constituencies. Voting in one constituency was postponed.

West Malaysia went to the polls on 10 May, while Sabah was scheduled to vote on 25 May and Sarawak on 7 June. The Alliance won eight seats on nomination day being unopposed in some constituencies. Tun Mustapha Datu Harun's United Sabah National Organisation (USNO) won 10 out of 16 seats unopposed on nomination day.

The opposition parties' gain at state level was more shocking to the Alliance Party which not only continued to lose to PAS in Kelantan, but also to political infant Gerakan in Penang. No party commanded an absolute majority in two other states. The Alliance held only 14 out of 24 seats in Selangor and 19 out of 40 in Perak.[2]

The attrition of Malay support was much higher than that of the non-Malays. Malay opposition parties' vote shares in the peninsula increased drastically from about 15% in 1964 to 25% in 1969 while the support for non-Malay opposition parties remained roughly the same at 26% in both elections. Thanks to the electoral system, however, PAS seats increased from nine to 12 seats only while non-Malay opposition party, DAP, from 1 to 13.

Party or allianceVotes%Seats+/–
Alliance PartyUnited Malays National Organisation1,076,50744.9452–7
Malaysian Chinese Association13–14
Parti Bumiputera Sarawak5–3
Malaysian Indian Congress2–1
Sarawak Chinese Association2–2
Total74–22
Pan-Malayan Islamic Party501,12320.9212+3
Democratic Action Party286,60611.9613+12
Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia178,9717.478New
People's Progressive Party80,7563.374+2
Sarawak United Peoples' Party72,7543.045+2
Sarawak National Party64,5932.709+5
Parti Pesaka Sarawak30,7651.282New
Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia27,1101.1300
Sabah Chinese Association18,3130.763–1
United Sabah National Organisation13,6340.5713+7
United Malaysian Chinese Organisation1,8080.080New
Independents42,6691.781+1
Total2,395,609100.00144–15
Valid votes2,395,60994.73
Invalid/blank votes133,2535.27
Total votes2,528,862100.00
Registered voters/turnout3,439,31373.53
Source: CLEA

Results by state

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Johore

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Party or allianceSeats+/–
Alliance PartyUnited Malays National Organisation110
Malaysian Chinese Association50
Total160
Democratic Action Party0New
Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia0New
Pan-Malayan Islamic Party0
Independents00
Total160

Kedah

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Party or allianceSeats+/–
Alliance PartyUnited Malays National Organisation7–3
Malaysian Chinese Association20
Total9–3
Pan-Malayan Islamic Party3+3
Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia0New
Total120

Kelantan

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Party or allianceSeats+/–
Pan-Malayan Islamic Party6–2
Alliance PartyUnited Malays National Organisation4+2
Independents00
Total100

Malacca

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Party or allianceSeats+/–
Alliance PartyUnited Malays National Organisation20
Malaysian Chinese Association1–1
Total3–1
Democratic Action Party1New
Pan-Malayan Islamic Party00
Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia0New
Total40

Negri Sembilan

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Party or allianceSeats+/–
Alliance PartyUnited Malays National Organisation30
Malaysian Chinese Association0–2
Malaysian Indian Congress0–1
Total00
Democratic Action Party3New
Pan-Malayan Islamic Party00
Total60

Pahang

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Party or allianceSeats+/–
Alliance PartyUnited Malays National Organisation50
Malaysian Chinese Association10
Total00
Pan-Malayan Islamic Party00
Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia00
Total60

Penang

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Party or allianceVotes%Seats+/–
Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia83,67044.555New
Alliance PartyUnited Malays National Organisation45,70524.341–3
Malaysian Chinese Association23,51012.521–1
Total69,21536.8620
Democratic Action Party20,93011.141New
Pan-Malayan Islamic Party13,2117.0300
People's Progressive Party7750.4100
Total187,801100.0080

Perak

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Party or allianceSeats+/–
Alliance PartyUnited Malays National Organisation7–2
Malaysian Chinese Association1–7
Malaysian Indian Congress10
Total9–9
Democratic Action Party5New
People's Progressive Party4+2
Pan-Malayan Islamic Party1+1
Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia1New
Independents00
Total200

Perlis

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Party or allianceVotes%Seats+/–
Alliance PartyUnited Malays National Organisation22,19551.1520
Pan-Malayan Islamic Party18,28642.1400
Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia2,9106.710New
Total43,391100.0020
Valid votes43,39196.46
Invalid/blank votes1,5913.54
Total votes44,982100.00
Registered voters/turnout56,06080.24

Sabah

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PartySeats+/–
United Sabah National Organisation130
Sabah Chinese Association30
Total160

Sarawak

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PartySeats+/–
Sarawak National Party90
Parti Bumiputera Sarawak50
Sarawak United Peoples' Party50
Parti Pesaka Sarawak20
Sarawak Chinese Association20
Independents10
Total240

Selangor

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Party or allianceSeats+/–
Alliance PartyUnited Malays National Organisation60
Malaysian Chinese Association2–3
Malaysian Indian Congress10
Total9–3
Democratic Action Party3New
Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia2New
Pan-Malayan Islamic Party00
Total140

Trengganu

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Party or allianceSeats+/–
Alliance PartyUnited Malays National Organisation4–1
Pan-Malayan Islamic Party2+1
Total60

State Assemblies

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Aftermath

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Gerakan and DAP held a victory rally in Kuala Lumpur on 12 May. The rally soon turned rowdy, as party members and Malay bystanders started to shout racial epithets at each other.[5] UMNO retaliated with its own rally on 13 May, which soon broke out into full-scale rioting. This event subsequently became known as the 13 May Incident.[5]

References

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  1. ^ Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p152 ISBN 0-19-924959-8
  2. ^ a b Report on the parliamentary (Dewan Rakyat) and state legislative assembly general elections 1969 of the states of Malaya, Sabah, and Sarawak Archived 4 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine Election Commission of Malaysia
  3. ^ "May 13: Why Malaysiakini revisited an old, but persistent, wound". 16 May 2019.
  4. ^ "Kuala Lumpur History Facts and Timeline: Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory, Malaysia".
  5. ^ a b Zainon Ahmad (26 July 2007). "The tragedy of May 13, 1969 (part 2)". The Sun. Archived from the original on 13 June 2010. Retrieved 24 June 2010.