1974 Malaysian general election

1974 Malaysian general election
← outgoing members Members elected →
All 154 seats in the Dewan Rakyat; 78 seats needed for a majority
Registered	4,017,266
Turnout	75.00%
	Results by constituency.
Prime Minister before election; Abdul Razak Hussein; BN	Prime Minister-designate ; Abdul Razak Hussein; BN

General elections were held in Malaysia between Saturday, 24 August and Saturday, 14 September 1974.^[2] 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 (except Sabah) on the same day. The elections were the first and only general elections for Tun Abdul Razak as Prime Minister following his appointment to the position in 1970. They were also the first general elections for Barisan Nasional (BN), a new political alliance replacing the Alliance Party; with the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (PGRM) and the People's Progressive Party (PPP) joining the parties from the old Alliance.

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. 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. This result was a victory for Barisan Nasional which won 135 of the 154 seats. 10 additional Parliament seats was created in the Peninsular Malaysia in 1974.

Results


Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Barisan Nasional		United Malays National Organisation	1,287,400	60.81	62	+10
			Malaysian Chinese Association			19	+6
			Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party			13	+1
			United Sabah National Organisation			13	0
			Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu			8	New
			Sarawak United Peoples' Party			7	+2
			Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia			5	–3
			Malaysian Indian Congress			4	+2
			Sabah Chinese Association			3	0
			People's Progressive Party			1	–3
		Total				135	+14
	Democratic Action Party			387,845	18.32	9	–4
	Sarawak National Party			117,566	5.55	9	0
	Malaysian Social Justice Party			105,718	4.99	1	New
	Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia			84,206	3.98	0	0
	Homeland Consciousness Union			8,623	0.41	0	New
	Independent People's Progressive Party			1,356	0.06	0	New
	Independents			124,202	5.87	0	–1
Total				2,116,916	100.00	154	+10

Valid votes				2,116,916	95.48
Invalid/blank votes				100,269	4.52
Total votes				2,217,185	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				2,956,395	75.00
Source: Nohlen et al., IPU

By state

Johore


Party or alliance				Seats
	Barisan Nasional		United Malays National Organisation	11
			Malaysian Chinese Association	5
		Total		16
Total				16

Kedah


Party or alliance				Seats	+/–
	Barisan Nasional		United Malays National Organisation	8	+1
			Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party	3	0
			Malaysian Chinese Association	2	0
		Total		13	0
Total				13	+1

Kelantan


Party or alliance				Seats	+/–
	Barisan Nasional		Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party	7	+1
			United Malays National Organisation	5	+1
		Total		12	+2
	Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia			0	0
	Independents			0	0
Total				12	+2

Kuala Lumpur


Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Barisan Nasional		Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia	15,682	13.77	0	0
			United Malays National Organisation	14,743	12.95	1	0
			Malaysian Chinese Association	9,886	8.68	0	0
			Malaysian Indian Congress	9,763	8.58	1	0
		Total		50,074	43.98	2	0
	Democratic Action Party			42,591	37.41	2	0
	Malaysian Social Justice Party			20,504	18.01	1	New
	Independents			681	0.60	0	0
Total				113,850	100.00	5	0

Valid votes				113,850	98.34
Invalid/blank votes				1,919	1.66
Total votes				115,769	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				115,769	100.00

Malacca


Party or alliance				Seats
	Barisan Nasional		United Malays National Organisation	2
			Malaysian Chinese Association	1
		Total		3
	Democratic Action Party			1
Total				4

Negri Sembilan


Party or alliance				Seats	+/–
	Barisan Nasional		United Malays National Organisation	3	0
			Malaysian Chinese Association	1	+1
			Malaysian Indian Congress	1	+1
		Total		5	+2
	Democratic Action Party			1	–2
Total				6	0

Pahang


Party or alliance				Seats	+/–
	Barisan Nasional		United Malays National Organisation	7	+2
			Malaysian Chinese Association	1	0
		Total		8	+2
	Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia			0	0
Total				8	+2

Penang


Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Barisan Nasional		Malaysian Chinese Association	46,226	22.15	3	+2
			Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia	42,792	20.51	3	–2
			United Malays National Organisation	28,331	13.58	3	+2
		Total		117,349	56.24	9	+2
	Democratic Action Party			51,025	24.45	0	–1
	Malaysian Social Justice Party			26,640	12.77	0	New
	Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia			12,409	5.95	0	0
	Homeland Consciousness Union			1,235	0.59	0	New
Total				208,658	100.00	9	+1

Registered voters/turnout				271,133	–

Perak


Party or alliance				Seats	+/–
	Barisan Nasional		United Malays National Organisation	11	+4
			Malaysian Chinese Association	2	+1
			Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia	2	+1
			Malaysian Indian Congress	1	0
			People's Progressive Party	1	–3
			Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party	1	0
		Total		17	+3
	Democratic Action Party			4	–1
Total				22	+1

Perlis


Party or alliance			Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Barisan Nasional	United Malays National Organisation	29,039	66.99	2	0
	Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia		2,796	6.45	0	0
	Independents		11,513	26.56	0	0
Total			43,348	100.00	2	0

Valid votes			43,348	94.74
Invalid/blank votes			2,407	5.26
Total votes			45,755	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			58,721	77.92

Sabah


Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Barisan Nasional		United Sabah National Organisation	6,468	60.85	13	0
			Sabah Chinese Association			3	0
		Total				16	0
	Malaysian Social Justice Party			4,162	39.15	0	New
Total				10,630	100.00	16	0

Valid votes				10,630	96.03
Invalid/blank votes				439	3.97
Total votes				11,069	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				14,242	77.72

Sarawak


Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Barisan Nasional		Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu	83,722	31.26	9	New
			Sarawak United Peoples' Party	64,235	23.99	6	+1
		Total		147,957	55.25	15	+1
	Sarawak National Party			117,503	43.88	9	0
	Independents			2,322	0.87	0	–1
Total				267,782	100.00	24	0

Selangor


Party or alliance				Seats	+/–
	Barisan Nasional		United Malays National Organisation	5	–1
			Malaysian Chinese Association	4	+2
			Malaysian Indian Congress	1	0
		Total		10	+1
	Democratic Action Party			1	–2
Total				11	–3

Trengganu


Party or alliance				Seats	+/–
	Barisan Nasional		United Malays National Organisation	4	0
			Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party	3	+1
		Total		7	+1
	Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia			0	0
	Independents			0	0
Total				7	+1

Aftermath

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.

Notes

^ Candidates were returned unopposed in 47 constituencies, reducing the number of eligible voters to 2,956,395.^[1]

References

^ Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p156 ISBN 0-19-924959-8
^ Nohlen et al., p152