1969 Malaysian general election

1969 Malaysian general election

← 1964 10 May 1969 – 4 July 1970 1974 →
← outgoing members Members elected →
All 144 seats in the Dewan Rakyat 73 seats needed for a majority
Registered	3,439,313
Turnout	73.53%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Tunku Abdul Rahman Burhanuddin al-Helmy Goh Hock Guan Party Alliance PAS DAP Last election 58.53%, 89 seats 14.64%, 9 seats 2.05%, 1 seat Seats won 74 12 13 Seat change 15 3 12 Popular vote 1,076,507 501,123 286,606 Percentage 44.94% 20.92% 11.96% Swing 13.59pp 6.28pp 9.91pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   SUPP Leader Syed Hussein Alatas S. P. Seenivasagam Ong Kee Hui Party Gerakan PPP SUPP Last election – 3.40%, 2 seats 3 seats Seats won 8 4 5 Seat change New 2 2 Popular vote 178,971 80,756 72,754 Percentage 7.47% 3.37% 3.04% Swing New 0.04pp –   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   Leader Stephen Kalong Ningkan Mustapha Harun Jugah Barieng Party SNAP USNO Pesaka Last election 4 seats 6 seats – Seats won 9 13 2 Seat change 5 7 New Popular vote 64,593 13,634 30,765 Percentage 2.70% 0.57% 1.28% Swing – – New
Prime Minister before election Tunku Abdul Rahman Alliance Prime Minister-designate Tunku Abdul Rahman Alliance

General elections were held in Malaysia on Saturday, 10 May 1969, although voting was postponed until between 6 June and 4 July 1970 in Sabah and Sarawak.^[1] This election marked the first parliamentary election held in Sabah and Sarawak after the formation of Malaysia in 1963.

The elections resulted in the return to power, with a reduced majority, of the ruling Alliance Party, comprising the

State elections also took place in 330 state constituencies in 12 (out of 13, except Sabah) states of Malaysia on the same day.

Results

Dewan Rakyat

Candidates were returned unopposed in 19 constituencies. Voting in one constituency was postponed.

West Malaysia went to the polls on 10 May, while Sabah was scheduled to vote on 25 May and Sarawak on 7 June. The Alliance won eight seats on nomination day being unopposed in some constituencies. Tun Mustapha Datu Harun's United Sabah National Organisation (USNO) won 10 out of 16 seats unopposed on nomination day.

The opposition parties' gain at state level was more shocking to the Alliance Party which not only continued to lose to PAS in Kelantan, but also to political infant Gerakan in Penang. No party commanded an absolute majority in two other states. The Alliance held only 14 out of 24 seats in Selangor and 19 out of 40 in Perak.^[2]

The attrition of Malay support was much higher than that of the non-Malays. Malay opposition parties' vote shares in the peninsula increased drastically from about 15% in 1964 to 25% in 1969 while the support for non-Malay opposition parties remained roughly the same at 26% in both elections. Thanks to the electoral system, however, PAS seats increased from nine to 12 seats only while non-Malay opposition party, DAP, from 1 to 13.

Results by state

Johore

Kedah

Kelantan

Malacca

Negri Sembilan

Pahang

Penang

Perak

Perlis

Sabah

Sarawak

Selangor

Trengganu

State Assemblies

Aftermath

Gerakan and DAP held a victory rally in