1978 Malaysian general election

1978 Malaysian general election

← 1974 8 July 1978 (1978-07-08) - 22 July 1978 (1978-07-22) 1982 →
← outgoing members Members elected →
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   Leader Hussein Onn Lim Kit Siang Asri Muda Party BN DAP Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party 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

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 (except Kelantan, Sabah and Sarawak) on the same day.

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		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
			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
			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],[2]

Results by state[]

Johore[]

Summary of the 8 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results in Johore

Party				Candidates	Vote		Seats
					Votes	%	Won	%	+/–
	National Front		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)
Source:

Kedah[]

Summary of the 8 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results in Kedah

Party				Candidates	Vote		Seats
					Votes	%	Won	%	+/–
	National Front		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)
Source:

Kelantan[]

Summary of the 8 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results in Kelantan

Party				Candidates	Vote		Seats
					Votes	%	Won	%	+/–
	National Front		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)
Source:

Kuala Lumpur[]

Summary of the 8 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results in Kuala Lumpur

Party				Candidates	Vote		Seats
					Votes	%	Won	%	+/–
	National Front		BN
		United Malays National Organisation	UMNO
	Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party		PAS
Valid votes
Invalid/blank votes
Total votes (voter turnout: %)						100.00		100.00
Did not vote
Registered voters
Voting age population (aged 21 years and above)
Source:

Malacca[]

Summary of the 8 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results in Malacca

Party				Candidates	Vote		Seats
					Votes	%	Won	%	+/–
	National Front		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)
Source:

Negri Sembilan[]

Summary of the 8 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results in Negri Sembilan

Party				Candidates	Vote		Seats
					Votes	%	Won	%	+/–
	National Front		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)
Source:

Pahang[]

Summary of the 8 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results in Pahang

Party				Candidates	Vote		Seats
					Votes	%	Won	%	+/–
	National Front		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)
Source:

Penang[]

Summary of the 8 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results in Penang

Party				Candidates	Vote		Seats
					Votes	%	Won	%	+/–
	National Front		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)
Source:

Perak[]

Summary of the 8 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results in Perak

Party				Candidates	Vote		Seats
					Votes	%	Won	%	+/–
	National Front		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)
Source:

Perlis[]

Summary of the 8 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results in Perlis

Party				Candidates	Vote		Seats
					Votes	%	Won	%	+/–
	National Front		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)
Source:

Sabah[]

Summary of the 8 – 15 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results in Sabah

Party				Candidates	Vote		Seats
					Votes	%	Won	%	+/–
	National Front		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:

Sarawak[]

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

Party				Candidates	Vote		Seats
					Votes	%	Won	%	+/–
	National Front		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
			SAPO	1	10,150	3.96	1	4.17	New
			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:

Selangor[]

Summary of the 8 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results in Selangor

Party				Candidates	Vote		Seats
					Votes	%	Won	%	+/–
	National Front		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)
Source:

Trengganu[]

Summary of the 8 July 1978 Malaysian Dewan Rakyat election results in Trengganu

Party				Candidates	Vote		Seats
					Votes	%	Won	%	+/–
	National Front		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)
Source:

State Assemblies[]

References[]