Malaysia Votes

Riding on the “Pak Lah Factor” and its development promises, the Barisan Nasional (BN) had a landslide victory in the 2004 general election, clinching 90% of the Parliamentary seats. The DAP won 12 seats and PAS, six seats. Parti Keadilan Rakyat and an independent candidate managed to win one seat each. The BN also won…

On March 8, Malaysia goes to the polls, 15 months before the current government’s five-year mandate ends. Even though the last general election was held in 2004 and the law stipulates that elections for Parliamentary and state assembly seats be held once in five years, elections can also be held earlier. Indeed, this has been…

Election period The general election or by-election begins when the Election Commission issues an election writ to the Returning Officer. A notice will be gazetted stipulating the dates for nomination and polling. The general election is held within 60 days from the date that Parliament and the State Legislative Assembly are dissolved. By-elections also have…

Polling day Officially, this day starts after March 7 midnight this year and ends with the announcement of the results.   However, polling time is fixed from 8am to 5.30pm for Peninsular Malaysia and 7.30am to 5pm for Sabah and Sarawak. For remote areas, mobile teams are utilised to facilitate polling and the polling times…

Counting the votes Vote counting is carried out by the Presiding Officer at the polling station or at a specified central counting place. Postal votes for each constituency are counted by the Returning Officer at the specified place.   During the counting, only authorised persons are allowed to be present. They are: i) Election Commission…