Malaysian general election, 1974

Malaysian general election, 1974
Malaysia
24 August – 14 September 1974

All 154 seats to the Dewan Rakyat
78 seats needed for a majority
Registered 4,178,914
Turnout 2,220,186 (75.1%)
  First party Second party Third party
  SNAP
Leader Abdul Razak Hussein Lim Kit Siang James Wong
Party Barisan Nasional DAP SNAP
Leader since 22 September 1970 October 1969 1963
Leader's seat Pekan Kota Melaka No seat
Last election 74 seats, 44.3% 13 seats, 12.1% 9 seats, 2.7%
Seats won 135 9 9
Seat change Increase 61 Decrease 4 Steady
Popular vote 1,287,400 387,845 117,566
Percentage 60.7% 18.3% 5.6%
Swing Increase 16.4% Increase 6.2% Increase 2.9%

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
  PSRM KITA
Leader Tan Chee Khoon
Party Parti Keadilan Masyarakat Malaysia Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia Parti Keadilan Insan Tanah Air
Leader since 1972
Leader's seat Kepong No seat No seat
Last election New Party No seats, 1.1% New Party
Seats won 1 No seats No seats
Seat change Steady
Popular vote 105,718 84,206 8,623
Percentage 5.0% 4.0% 0.4%

Prime Minister before election

Abdul Razak Hussein
Barisan Nasional

Prime Minister-designate

Abdul Razak Hussein
Barisan Nasional

A general election was held between Saturday, 24 August and Saturday, 14 September 1974 for members of the 4th 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 360 state constituencies in 12 (out of 13, except Sabah) states of Malaysia on the same day.

This result was a victory for Barisan Nasional (formerly the Alliance Party), which won 135 of the 154 seats. Voter turnout was 75.1%.

Once Parliament had been dissolved on 31 July 1974, the Election Commission fixed 8 August 1974, as Nomination Day and 24 August 1974, as Polling Day. (In Malaysia, the election campaign must last a minimum of two weeks.)

This was the first general election since the Alliance Party was replaced by the Barisan Nasional in 1973. It was also the only election when the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) participated as part of Barisan Nasional, which also marked the first time since independence the federal ruling party obtained a majority in the Kelantan State Legislative Assembly, forming the state government in Kelantan.

Candidates were returned unopposed in 47 constituencies. The 1,060,871 electors from these constituencies therefore did not cast ballots. Another 88 Front members were later successful, thus enabling their alliance to gain an overwhelming majority in the House. Altogether over 50 Opposition candidates lost their deposits.

Results

Dewan Rakyat

 Summary of the 24 August - 14 September 1974 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results
Party Vote Seats
Votes % Won % +/–
National Front[lower-alpha 1]BN1,287,40060.8113587.66+61
United Malays National Organisation UMNO 62 40.26 +10
Malaysian Chinese Association MCA 19 12.34 +6
Pan-Malaysian Islamic PartyPAS 138.44+1
United Sabah National OrganisationUSNO 13 8.44 0
United Traditional Bumiputera PartyPBB 8 5.19 New
Sarawak United People's Party SUPP 7 4.55 +2
Malaysian People's Movement PartyGerakan 53.25-3
Malaysian Indian Congress MIC 4 2.60 +2
Sabah Chinese Association SCA 3 1.95 0
People's Progressive PartyPPP 10.65-3
Democratic Action PartyDAP387,84518.3295.84-4
Sarawak National PartySNAP117,5665.5595.840
Parti Keadilan Masyarakat MalaysiaPEKEMAS105,7184.9910.65New
Malaysian People's Socialist PartyPSRM84,2063.9800.000
Homeland Consciousness Union KITA8,6230.4100.00New
Independent People's Progressive PartyIPPP1,3560.0600.00New
IndependentsIND124,2025.8700.00-1
Valid votes2,116,916
Invalid/blank votes103,270
Total (turnout: 75.1%)2,220,186100.00154100.00+10
Did not vote1,958,728
Registered voters4,178,914
Voting age population (aged 21 years and above)5,625,000
Malaysian population11,700,000
Source: Nohlen et al., IPU ,,
  1. Contested using dacing election symbol on the ballot papers.

Results by state

State Assemblies

Opposition

After the election, Sarawak National Party (SNAP) became the largest opposition party in the Malaysian parliament and James Wong was appointed the opposition leader. After 2 months, he was detained under Internal Security Act. Datuk Seri Edmund Langgau Anak Saga from the SNAP party later succeeded him. James Wong was detained for almost two years before negotiation led by Datuk Amar Leo Moggie Anak Irok resulting in SNAP joining the Barisan Nasional.

References

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