1978 Malaysian general election

A general election was held between Saturday, 8 July and Saturday, 22 July 1978 for members of the 5th Parliament of Malaysia.[1] Voting took place in all 154 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 276 state constituencies in 10 (out of 13, except Kelantan, Sabah and Sarawak) states of Malaysia on the same day.

1978 Malaysian general election

8 July 1978 (1978-07-08) - 22 July 1978 (1978-07-22)
All 154 seats to the Dewan Rakyat 78 seats needed for a majority
Registered	5,059,689
Turnout	3,596,732 (75.3%)
First party Second party Third party   PAS Leader Hussein Onn Lim Kit Siang Asri Muda Party BN DAP PAS Leader since 14 January 1976 1 October 1969 1969 Leader's seat Sri Gading Petaling No seat Last election 135 seats, 60.7% 9 seats, 18.3% 13 seats (part of Barisan Nasional) Seats won 131 16 5 Seat change 4 7 8 Popular vote 1,987,907 664,433 537,720 Percentage 57.2% 19.1% 15.5% Swing 3.5% 0.8%
Prime Minister before election Hussein Onn BN Prime Minister-designate Hussein Onn BN

It was Hussein Onn's first and only election since he became the country's third Prime Minister in 1976. His Barisan Nasional Party emerged victorious with 131 of the 154 seats in Parliament. Voter turnout was 75.3%.

Results

Dewan Rakyat

As expected, Barisan Nasional comfortably maintained its majority in the Malaysian Parliament and thus, gave the Prime Minister the power to form a government with a free hand. Despite the victory, BN actually lost four seats out of 154 seats to the opposition.

The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) withdrew from BN in the midst of the 1977 Kelantan Emergency over disagreements with UMNO over the running of the state government of Kelantan, which PAS had controlled since the first post-independence general election in 1959. With the support of UMNO, detractors within PAS split with the party and formed the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Front (BERJASA). In the election, PAS lost the control of the state for the first time to the UMNO-BERJASA alliance within BN. Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has been credited for UMNO's victory in Kelantan.

The opposition garnered 42.8% of total votes. In spite of that, the opposition as one won only 23 seats. Democratic Action Party won the largest slice of the pie among the opposition parties and hence, its leader Lim Kit Siang retained his position as the leader of the opposition that he had obtained four years earlier.

Candidates were returned unopposed in nine constituencies. The registered electors from these constituencies therefore did not cast ballots.

 Summary of the 8 – 22 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results

Party				Vote		Seats
				Votes	%	Won	%	+/–
	National Front[lower-alpha 1]		BN	1,987,907	57.23	131	85.06	-4
		United Malays National Organisation	UMNO			70	45.45	+8
		Malaysian Chinese Association	MCA			17	11.04	-2
		Sabah People's United Front	BERJAYA			9	5.84	New
		Sarawak National Party	SNAP	45,218		9	5.84	0
		United Traditional Bumiputera Party	PBB	52,222		8	5.19	0
		Sarawak United People's Party	SUPP	64,099		6	3.90	-1
		United Sabah National Organisation	USNO			5	3.25	-8
		Malaysian People's Movement Party	Gerakan			4	2.60	-1
		Malaysian Indian Congress	MIC			3	1.95	-1
		People's Progressive Party	PPP			0	0.00	-1
	Democratic Action Party		DAP	664,433	19.13	16	10.39	+7
	Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party		PAS	537,720	15.48	5	3.25	-8
	Sarawak People's Organisation		SAPO	10,150	0.29	1	0.65	New
	Malaysian People's Socialist Party		PSRM			0	0.00	0
	Other parties			112,850	3.25	0	0.00	0
	Sarawak Native People's Party		PAJAR	35,009		0	0.00	New
	Parti Umat Sarawak		UMAT	3,898		0	0.00	New
	Parti Negara Rakyat Sarawak		NEGARA	861		0	0.00	New
	Independents		IND	160,370	4.62	1	0.65	+1
Valid votes				3,473,430
Invalid/blank votes				123,302
Total (turnout: 75.3%)				3,596,732	100.00	154	100.00	0
Did not vote				1,462,957
Registered voters				5,059,689
Voting age population (aged 21 years and above)				6,067,230
Malaysian population				12,303,000
Source: Nohlen et al. ,

1. Contested using dacing election symbol on the ballot papers.

Results by state

Summary of the 8 – 22 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results by state

Summary of the 8 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results in Perlis Party Candidates Vote Seats Votes % Won % +/– National Front[lower-alpha 1] BN 2 2 100.00 0 United Malays National Organisation UMNO 2 2 100.00 0 Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party PAS 0 0.00 0 Valid votes Invalid/blank votes Total votes (voter turnout: %)   100.00 2 100.00 0 Did not vote Registered voters   Voting age population (aged 21 years and above)   Perlis's population   Source: Contested using dacing election symbol on the ballot papers.  Summary of the 8 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results in Kedah Party Candidates Vote Seats Votes % Won % +/– National Front[lower-alpha 1] BN 13 11 84.62 -2 United Malays National Organisation UMNO 11 9 69.23 +1 Malaysian Chinese Association MCA 2 2 15.38 0 Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party PAS 2 15.38 -1 Valid votes Invalid/blank votes Total votes (voter turnout: %)   100.00 13 100.00 0 Did not vote Registered voters   Voting age population (aged 21 years and above)   Kedah's population   Source: Contested using dacing election symbol on the ballot papers.  Summary of the 8 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results in Kelantan Party Candidates Vote Seats Votes % Won % +/– National Front[lower-alpha 1] BN 12 10 83.33 -2 United Malays National Organisation UMNO 12 10 83.33 +5 Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party PAS 12 2 16.67 -5 Valid votes Invalid/blank votes Total votes (voter turnout: %)   100.00 12 100.00 0 Did not vote Registered voters   Voting age population (aged 21 years and above)   Kelantan's population   Source: Contested using dacing election symbol on the ballot papers.  Summary of the 8 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results in Trengganu Party Candidates Vote Seats Votes % Won % +/– National Front[lower-alpha 1] BN 7 7 100.00 0 United Malays National Organisation UMNO 7 7 100.00 +3 Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party PAS 0 0.00 -3 Valid votes Invalid/blank votes Total votes (voter turnout: %)   100.00 7 100.00 0 Did not vote Registered voters   Voting age population (aged 21 years and above)   Trengganu's population   Source: Contested using dacing election symbol on the ballot papers.  Summary of the 8 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results in Penang Party Candidates Vote Seats Votes % Won % +/– National Front[lower-alpha 1] BN 9 4 44.44 -5 United Malays National Organisation UMNO 3 2 22.22 -1 Malaysian Chinese Association MCA 3 1 11.11 -2 Malaysian People's Movement Party Gerakan 3 1 11.11 -2 Democratic Action Party DAP 4 44.44 +4 Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party PAS 1 11.11 +1 Valid votes Invalid/blank votes Total votes (voter turnout: %)   100.00 9 100.00 0 Did not vote Registered voters   Voting age population (aged 21 years and above)   Penang's population   Source: Contested using dacing election symbol on the ballot papers.  Summary of the 8 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results in Perak Party Candidates Vote Seats Votes % Won % +/– National Front[lower-alpha 1] BN 21 17 80.95 0 United Malays National Organisation UMNO 10 47.62 -1 Malaysian Chinese Association MCA 3 14.29 +1 Malaysian People's Movement Party Gerakan 2 9.52 0 Malaysian Indian Congress MIC 1 4.76 0 Barisan Nasional Direct Candidate 1 4.76 People's Progressive Party PPP 0 0.00 -1 Democratic Action Party DAP 4 19.05 0 Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party PAS 0 0.00 -1 Valid votes Invalid/blank votes Total votes (voter turnout: %)   100.00 21 100.00 0 Did not vote Registered voters   Voting age population (aged 21 years and above)   Perak's population   Source: Contested using dacing election symbol on the ballot papers.  Summary of the 8 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results in Pahang Party Candidates Vote Seats Votes % Won % +/– National Front[lower-alpha 1] BN 8 8 100.00 0 United Malays National Organisation UMNO 6 6 75.00 -1 Malaysian Chinese Association MCA 2 2 25.00 +1 Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party PAS 0 0.00 0 Valid votes Invalid/blank votes Total votes (voter turnout: %)   100.00 8 100.00 0 Did not vote Registered voters   Voting age population (aged 21 years and above)   Pahang's population   Source: Contested using dacing election symbol on the ballot papers.  Summary of the 8 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results in Selangor Party Candidates Vote Seats Votes % Won % +/– National Front[lower-alpha 1] BN 11 10 90.91 0 United Malays National Organisation UMNO 6 6 54.55 +1 Malaysian Chinese Association MCA 4 3 27.27 -1 Malaysian Indian Congress MIC 1 1 9.09 0 Democratic Action Party DAP 1 9.09 0 Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party PAS 0 0.00 0 Valid votes Invalid/blank votes Total votes (voter turnout: %)   100.00 11 100.00 0 Did not vote Registered voters   Voting age population (aged 21 years and above)   Selangor's population   Source: Contested using dacing election symbol on the ballot papers. Template:Malaysian general election, 1978 (Kuala Lumpur)  Summary of the 8 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results in Negri Sembilan Party Candidates Vote Seats Votes % Won % +/– National Front[lower-alpha 1] BN 6 5 83.33 0 United Malays National Organisation UMNO 3 3 50.00 0 Malaysian Chinese Association MCA 2 1 16.67 0 Malaysian Indian Congress MIC 1 1 16.67 0 Democratic Action Party DAP 1 16.67 0 Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party PAS 0 0.00 0 Valid votes Invalid/blank votes Total votes (voter turnout: %)   100.00 6 100.00 0 Did not vote Registered voters   Voting age population (aged 21 years and above)   Negri Sembilan's population   Source: Contested using dacing election symbol on the ballot papers.  Summary of the 8 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results in Malacca Party Candidates Vote Seats Votes % Won % +/– National Front[lower-alpha 1] BN 4 3 75.00 0 United Malays National Organisation UMNO 2 2 50.00 0 Malaysian Chinese Association MCA 2 1 25.00 0 Democratic Action Party DAP 1 25.00 0 Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party PAS 0 0.00 0 Valid votes Invalid/blank votes Total votes (voter turnout: %)   100.00 4 100.00 0 Did not vote Registered voters   Voting age population (aged 21 years and above)   Malacca's population   Source: Contested using dacing election symbol on the ballot papers.  Summary of the 8 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results in Johore Party Candidates Vote Seats Votes % Won % +/– National Front[lower-alpha 1] BN 16 15 93.75 -1 United Malays National Organisation UMNO 11 11 68.75 0 Malaysian Chinese Association MCA 5 4 25.00 -1 Democratic Action Party DAP 1 6.25 +1 Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party PAS 0 0.00 0 Valid votes Invalid/blank votes Total votes (voter turnout: %)   100.00 16 100.00 0 Did not vote Registered voters   Voting age population (aged 21 years and above)   Johore's population   Source: Contested using dacing election symbol on the ballot papers.  Summary of the 8 – 15 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results in Sabah Party Candidates Vote Seats Votes % Won % +/– National Front[lower-alpha 1] BN 16 14 87.50 -2 Sabah People's United Front BERJAYA 9 56.25 New United Sabah National Organisation USNO 5 31.25 -8 Democratic Action Party DAP 1 6.25 +1 Independents IND 1 6.25 +1 Valid votes Invalid/blank votes Total votes (voter turnout: %)   100.00 16 100.00 0 Did not vote Registered voters   Voting age population (aged 21 years and above)   Sabah's population   Source: Contested using dacing election symbol on the ballot papers.  Summary of the 8 – 22 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results in Sarawak Party Candidates Vote Seats Votes % Won % +/– National Front[lower-alpha 1] BN 24 161,539 63.03 23 95.83 +8 Sarawak National Party SNAP 9 45,218 17.64 9 37.50 0 United Traditional Bumiputera Party PBB 8 52,222 20.38 8 33.33 0 Sarawak United People's Party SUPP 7 64,099 25.01 6 25.00 -1 Sarawak Native People's Party PAJAR 12 35,009 13.66 0 0.00 New Sarawak People's Organisation SAPO 1 10,150 3.96 1 4.17 New Parti Umat Sarawak UMAT 3 3,898 1.52 0 0.00 New Parti Negara Rakyat Sarawak NEGARA 3 861 0.34 0 0.00 New Independents IND 16 44,831 17.49 0 0.00 0 Valid votes 256,288 Invalid/blank votes Total votes (voter turnout: %)   100.00 24 100.00 0 Did not vote Registered voters   Voting age population (aged 21 years and above)   Sarawak's population   Source: Contested using dacing election symbol on the ballot papers.

State Assemblies

Main article: 1978 Malaysian state elections

References

1. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p152 ISBN 0-19-924959-8