Malayan general election, 1959

Malayan general election, 1959
Federation of Malaya
19 August 1959 (1959-08-19) (timelines)

All 104 seats to the Dewan Rakyat
53 seats needed for a majority
Registered 2,177,650
Turnout 1,564,575 (73.3%)
  First party Second party Third party
  SF
Leader Tunku Abdul Rahman Burhanuddin al-Helmy Ahmad Boestaman
Party Alliance PMIP Socialist Front
Leader since 23 August 1951 (1951-08-23) 1956 (1956) 26 August 1958
Leader's seat Kuala Kedah Besut Setapak
Last election 51 seats, 81.7% 1 seat, 4.1% New Party
Seats won 74 13 8
Seat change Increase 23 Increase 12
Popular vote 800,944 329,070 199,688
Percentage 51.8% 21.3% 12.9%
Swing Decrease 29.9% Increase 17.2%

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
  PPP MP
Leader D. R. Seenivasagam Onn Jaafar Tan Kee Gak
Party People's Progressive Party National Party Malayan Party
Leader since 10 April 1953 10 May 1946 1956
Leader's seat Ipoh Kuala Trengganu Selatan Bandar Malacca
Last election No seats, 0.1% No seats, 7.9% New Party
Seats won 4 1 1
Seat change Increase 4 Increase 1
Popular vote 97,391 32,578 13,404
Percentage 6.3% 2.1% 0.9%
Swing Increase 6.2% Decrease 5.8%

Prime Minister before election

Abdul Razak Hussein
Alliance

Prime Minister-designate

Tunku Abdul Rahman
Alliance

A general election was held on Wednesday, 19 August 1959 for members of the first Parliament of the Federation of Malaya,[1] the first parliamentary election in Malaya. It was the third national-wide election held in Malaya since the end of World War II. Malaya later formed Malaysia with three other states in 1963. Voter turnout was 73.3%.

In the election, the Alliance Party - later Barisan Nasional - emerged as the victor. The party was a coalition formed by United Malays National Organisation, Malayan Chinese Association and Malayan Indian Congress. The coalition won 74 out of 104 seats in the Dewan Rakyat with only 51.8% of total votes. The opposition as a whole garnered 30 seats with 48.3% of total votes.

The 71.1% 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 (English: Central Kedah) constituency was delayed until 30 September.[2] The Alliance proceeded to win this seat with Khir Johari as the winning candidate.

Prior to the parliamentary election, state elections took place in 282 state legislature seats in 11 states of Malaya from 20 May to 24 June 1959.

Timelines

Dewan Rakyat

State legislative assemblies

State Nomination Date State election
 Perlis 15 April 1959 20 May 1959
 Kedah 15 April 1959 20 May 1959
 Malacca 18 April 1959 23 May 1959
 Perak 22 April 1959 27 May 1959
 Selangor 25 April 1959 30 May 1959
 Negeri Sembilan 28 April 1959 2 June 1959
 Penang 2 May 1959 6 June 1959
 Johor 6 May 1959 10 June 1959
 Pahang 13 May 1959 27 June 1959
 Terengganu 16 May 1959 20 June 1959
 Kelantan 20 May 1959 24 June 1959

Results

Parliamentary results

Political Party Votes % of vote Seats % of seats +/–
Alliance PartyAlliance800,94451.87471.1+23
United Malays National Organisation UMNO 553,160 35.8 52 50.0 +18
Malayan Chinese Association MCA 232,073 15.0 19 18.3 +4
Malayan Indian Congress MIC 15,711 1.0 3 2.9 +1
Pan-Malayan Islamic PartyPMIP329,07021.31312.5+12
Malayan Peoples' Socialist FrontSF199,68812.987.7New
Labour Party of Malaya Lab 6 5.8 +6
Parti Ra'ayat Ra'ayat 2 1.9 New
People's Progressive PartyPPP97,3916.343.8+4
National PartyNegara32,5782.111.0+1
Malayan PartyMP13,4040.911.0New
IndependentsIND74,1944.832.9+3
Valid votes1,547,269
Invalid/blank votes17,306
Total (turnout: 73.3%)1,564,575100.0104100.0+52
Did not vote613,075
Registered voters2,177,650
Source: Nohlen et al.

  • Three Alliance candidates were returned unopposed.

References

  1. Nohlen, D, Grotz, F & Hartmann, C (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p152 ISBN 0-19-924959-8
  2. Arkib Negara: Pembentukan Kabinet Yang Pertama Selepas Merdeka (in Malay)

External links

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