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Malaysian general election, 2004

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Malaysia
General elections were held in Malaysia on March 21, 2004. The
incumbent National Front (Barisan Nasional) government of Prime
Minister Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was re-elected with an
increased majority.

Contents This article is part of the series:

Politics and government of
1 Election results Malaysia
2 Table of results
3 State elections
4 Background Constitution
5 Election irregularities Social contract
6 See also Yang di-Pertuan Agong
7 External links Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin
Cabinet
Prime Minister
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Deputy Prime Minister
Election results Parliament
Dewan Negara
The National Front gained a popular vote of 63.9%, but would have Dewan Rakyat
gained a higher vote had all seats been contested. Reports in the Judiciary
Malaysian media on March 23 showed the Front winning 198 The Opposition
Elections
parliamentary seats to the combined opposition parties' 20 seats, with one
Election Commission
independent. This is the largest majority that Barisan Nasional has won Political parties
since the 1978 elections. States
Foreign relations
The dominant party in the National Front, the Prime Minister's United
Malays National Organisation (UMNO), won 109 seats, a gain of 32. Other countries - Politics Portal
UMNO's allies also gained seats. The Malaysian Chinese Association
won 31 seats, a gain of two, and the Malaysian Indian Congress won nine seats, a gain of two.

Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) managed to retain only seven of its 27 seats. PAS ran on a platform promising an Islamic
nation. The PAS opposition leader, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, lost his parliamentary seat.

Another opposition party, the People's Justice Party (Parti Keadilan Nasional) lost four of its five seats. After five
recounts the party's leader, Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (the wife of imprisoned former Deputy Prime Minister
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim), retained her seat with a majority of 590 votes.

The third opposition party, the Democratic Action Party, which was routed in the 1999 elections, improved its
performance with the re-election of party chairman Lim Kit Siang and his deputy, Karpal Singh. The DAP won 12 seats
and regained the official leadership of the opposition in the national parliament from PAS.

Most candidates who campaigned on platforms of Islamic issues lost their seats. This is a significant turnaround since the
last election where, generally, the more "Islamic" candidates had a greater chance of winning in the Malay heartland.

Table of results

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Summary of the 21 March 2004 Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives) election results

% of
Votes Seats +/-
vote
National Front (Barisan Nasional): 4,420,452 63.9 198 +51
United Malays National Organization (Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Bersatu,
2,483,249 35.9 109 +38
UMNO)
Malaysian Chinese Association (Persatuan China Malaysia, MCA) 1,074,230 15.5 31 +2
Malaysian Indian Congress (Kongres India Se-Malaysia, MIC) 221,546 3.2 9 +2
Malaysian People's Movement Party (Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia, Gerakan) 257,763 3.7 10 +4
United Traditional Bumiputera Party (Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu, PBB) 383,664 5.5 11 +5
Sarawak United People's Party (Parti Rakyat Bersatu Sarawak, SUPP) 6
Sarawak United People's Party (Parti Rakyat Bersatu Sarawak, SUPP) 6
Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (Parti Demokratik Progresif Sarawak, SAPP) 4
United Sabah Party (Parti Bersatu Sabah, PBS) 4
United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Pertubuhan Pasok 4
Momogun Kadazandusun Bersatu, UPKO)
Sabah Progressive Party (Parti Maju Sabah, SAPP) 2
United Sabah People's Party (Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah) 1
People's Progressive Party (Parti Progresif Penduduk Malaysia, PPP) 1
Liberal Democratic Party (Parti Liberal Demokratik, LDP) -
Democratic Action Party (Parti Tindakan Demokratik, DAP) 687,340 9.9 12 +2
Alternative Front (Barisan Alternatif) coalition: 1,668,998 24.1 8 -24
Islamic Party of Malaysia (Parti Islam SeMalaysia, PAS) 1,051,480 15.2 7 -20
People's Justice Party (Parti Keadilan Rakyat, PKR) 617,518 8.9 1 -4
Non partisans (and others) 139,438 2.1 1 -2
Overall total 6,916,138 100.0 219 +26
Source: The Star, Kuala Lumpur

State elections
Elections for the assemblies of all the Malaysian states except Sarawak were also held on March 22. The National Front
and its allies won majorities in all states except Kelantan where, despite earlier reports to the contrary, PAS retained
control with a narrow majority of 24 seats to BN's 21 seats. The National Front regained control of the state of
Terengganu, which it lost to PAS in 1999. The PAS opposition leader, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, managed to retain
his state seat.

Background
On March 2, the 10th national parliament and all state assemblies in Malaysia (with the exception of Sarawak) were
dissolved by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong upon the advice of the Prime Minister. Sarawak's last state election was held in

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2001, and elections for the state assembly are not due till 2006.

The election was held nine months earlier than required by the constitution. The constitution allows that parliament has a
mandate of 5 years. Elections are required to be called three months after parliament is dissolved. The government had
until the end of November 2004 to call elections.

Candidates nominated on March 13, with the National Front winning 15 seats uncontested, and another two seats after
the opposing candidates withdrew. The right to withdraw was only introduced as a new rule at these elections. Under this
rule candidates are allowed a three day period to withdraw following nomination day. Of the 17 parliamentary seats won
uncontested, nine were in the state of Sabah, six in Sarawak and two in Johor.

PAS won a state assembly seat in Johor for the first time, after the National Front candidate was disqualified because she
was seconded by someone who was not a registered voter in the constituency which she wanted to contest. The
requirement that the seconder be registered in the same constituency was only introduced in 2004.

Election irregularities
The elections were marred by discrepancies, which were admitted by the electoral authorities. The head of the Election
Commission (Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman) made the statement "I have been in this line for so long... it should
not have happened at all. There must be reasons why this happened." He has served in the election commission for the
last five elections, and has stated that he intends to resign if a report on the discrepancies implicates him in the foul-ups.

Among the discrepancies were wrongly printed ballots, registered voters being unable to vote and wide discrepancies in
votes in various seats upon re-counting the ballots.

A re-election was held in the seat of Sungai Lembing (Pahang), since the wrong party symbol was printed on the ballot
paper for the opposition candidate. Illiterate voters tend to rely on familiar party symbols for voting purposes as they are
unable to read the candidate's names on the ballot.

See also
Politics of Malaysia
Malaysian general election, 1999

External links
The (Malaysian) Star Online (http://thestar.com.my/election2004/default.asp)
Election results from The Star (http://thestar.com.my/election2004/results/results.html)
ChannelNewsAsia (http://www.channelnewsasia.com/malaysia/)
Bernama (http://www.bernama.com/election2004/index.php)
Election Commission Malaysia (SPR) (http://www.spr.gov.my/) (in Malay)
Results from the SPR (http://result.spr.gov.my/menuutama2.asp) (in Malay)

Preceded by: Followed by:

Malaysian General Elections
1999 to be held
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Categories: 2004 elections | Elections in Malaysia

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