1978 Malaysian general election

none Malaysia parliamentary 1974 Malaysian general election 1974 Members of the Dewan Rakyat, 4th Malaysian Parliament 1982 Malaysian general election 1982 All 154 seats in the Dewan Rakyat Members of the Dewan Rakyat, 5th Malaysian Parliament 78 5,059,702 75.30% 8–22 July 1978 130x130px 3x4.svg Hussein Onn Barisan Nasional 124 seatsExcluding seats for PAS, who was a member of Barisan Nasional in 1974 elections but were ousted from BN before the 1978 elections. 130 5 1,987,907 57.23% 3.58pp Lim_Kit_Siang_(3to4).jpg Lim Kit Siang Democratic Action Party 18.32%, 9 seats 16 7 664,433 19.13% 0.81pp 3x4.svg Asri Muda PAS 14 seatsAs a member of Barisan Nasional in 1974 elections. 5 8 537,720 15.48% – Prime Minister Prime Minister-designate Hussein Onn Barisan Nasional Hussein Onn Barisan Nasional General elections were held in Malaysia between Saturday, 8 July and Saturday, 22 July 1978.Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p152 0-19-924959-8 Voting took place in all 154 parliamentary constituencies, 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 election after becoming the country's third Prime Minister in 1976. His Barisan Nasional alliance emerged victorious with 130 of the 154 seats. Voter turnout was 75%. Results 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 further five 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 and keeping administration by BN for 12 years until 1990. 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 24 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. File:Dewan Rakyat 1978 (blocs).svg Barisan Nasional 12 United Malays National Organisation 1089402 69 +7 Malaysian Chinese Association 451307 17 –2 Sabah People's United Front 61522 8 New Sarawak National Party 45218 9 0 Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu 52222 8 0 Sarawak United Peoples' Party 64099 6 –1 United Sabah National Organisation 32703 5 –8 Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia 98217 4 –1 Malaysian Indian Congress 67119 3 –1 People's Progressive Party 9204 0 –1 Direct Candidate 16894 1 1987907 130 –5 Democratic Action Party 664433 16 +7 Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party 537720 5 –8 Parti Anak Jati Sarawak 35009 0 New Malaysian Social Justice Party 23792 0 –1 Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia 22031 0 0 Social Democratic Party 13788 0 New Sarawak People's Organisation 10150 1 New Social United Association Party 5594 0 New Sabah Democratic People's Party 4491 0 New Parti Umat Sarawak 3898 0 New Malaysian Workers' Party 1731 0 New Sabah Chinese Association 1305 0 –3 Sarawak People's National Party 861 0 New Homeland Consciousness Union 350 0 0 Independents 160370 2 +2 123302 0 4776391 Nohlen et al. CLEA, Thambipillai Tindak Malaysia GithubThe above registered voter turnout refers to total electorate for the contested constituencies. The total electorate for whole of Malaysia including 9 uncontested constituencies is 5,0659,702. By state Johore Source:HISTORICAL-ELECTION-RESULTS/1978-ELECTION-RESULTS/MALAYSIA_1978_PARLIAMENT_RESULTS.csv at main · TindakMalaysia/HISTORICAL-ELECTION-RESULTS https://github.com/TindakMalaysia/HISTORICAL-ELECTION-RESULTS/blob/main/1978-ELECTION-RESULTS/MALAYSIA_1978_PARLIAMENT_RESULTS.csv 2025-07-18 GitHub en Barisan Nasional 3 United Malays National Organisation 226636 11 0 Malaysian Chinese Association 103597 4 -1 330233 15 -1 Democratic Action Party 64385 1 +1 Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party 32512 0 0 18283 0 572447Total Electors for Johor is 614605 voters. The above table shows the total voters of contested constituencies and there is only one uncontested seat in Johor - Batu Pahat Kedah Source: Barisan Nasional 3 United Malays National Organisation 168666 9 +1 Malaysian Chinese Association 29199 2 0 197865 11 +1 Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party 137400 2 -1 Democratic Action Party 2828 0 0 Independents 8410 0 0 10099 0 461290 Kelantan Source: Barisan Nasional United Malays National Organisation 143161 10 +5 Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party 110620 2 -5 2600 0 340141 Kuala Lumpur Democratic Action Party 101306 3 +1 Barisan Nasional 5 Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia 20055 1 +1 Malaysian Indian Congress 18239 0 –1 Malaysian Chinese Association 7853 0 0 United Malays National Organisation 1 0 46147 2 0 Malaysian Social Justice Party 17988 0 –1 Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party 12006 0 0 Malaysian Workers' Party 1731 0 New Independents 5072 0 0 1910 0 261783Total Electors of Kuala Lumpur is 328216. The above table shows total number of voters for contested constituencies. There was one uncontested seat - Setapak (won by UMNO) Malacca Source: Barisan Nasional 3 United Malays National Organisation 41344 2 0 Malaysian Chinese Association 17844 1 0 59188 3 0 Democratic Action Party 34576 1 0 Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party 12536 0 0 4428 0 141841Total Electors of Malacca is 188022. The above table shows total number of voters for contested constituencies. There was one uncontested seat - Batu Berendam Negeri Sembilan Source: Barisan Nasional 4 United Malays National Organisation 36443 3 0 Malaysian Chinese Association 30707 1 0 Malaysian Indian Congress 14521 1 0 81671 5 0 Democratic Action Party 41736 1 0 Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party 11217 0 0 Independents 7151 0 0 6906 0 190409Total Electors of Negeri Sembilan is 221815. The above table shows total number of voters for contest constituencies. There was one uncontested seat - Jelebu Pahang Source: Barisan Nasional 3 United Malays National Organisation 95576 6 -1 Malaysian Chinese Association 28017 2 +1 123593 8 0 Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party 34156 0 0 Democratic Action Party 16354 0 0 Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia 6441 0 0 Independents 4384 0 0 9297 0 258024 Penang Source: Barisan Nasional 4 United Malays National Organisation 42271 2 -1 Malaysian Chinese Association 51428 1 -2 Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia 44474 1 -2 138173 4 -5 Democratic Action Party 79918 4 +4 Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party 31667 1 +1 Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia 10044 0 0 Social Democratic Party 13788 0 0 Homeland Consciousness Union 350 0 0 Independents 19280 0 0 10321 0 383134 Perak Source: Barisan Nasional 7 United Malays National Organisation 121755 10 -1 Malaysian Chinese Association 99092 3 +1 Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia 33638 2 0 Malaysian Indian Congress 12930 1 0 Direct Candidate 16894 1 0 People's Progressive Party 9204 0 -1 293563 17 -1 Democratic Action Party 200547 4 0 Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party 52655 0 -1 Malaysian Social Justice Party 342 0 0 Independents 1564 0 0 21127 0 736963 Perlis Source: Barisan Nasional United Malays National Organisation 30762 2 0 Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party 16973 0 0 Independents 2906 0 0 2232 0 68572 Sabah Source: Barisan Nasional 3 Sabah People's United Front 61522 8 New United Sabah National Organisation 32703 5 –8 94225 14 -8 Democratic Action Party 11733 1 +1 Social United Association Party 5594 0 New Sabah Democratic People's Party 4491 0 New Sabah Chinese Association 1305 0 –3 Malaysian Social Justice Party 921 0 0 Independents 63515 2 +2 5685 0 282369Total Electorate of Sabah is 295580. The above table shows the registered voter count of contested constituency and there is one uncontested constituency - Ulu Padas Sarawak Source: Barisan Nasional 4 Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu 52222 8 0 Sarawak National Party 45218 9 0 Sarawak United Peoples' Party 64099 6 -1 161539 23 -1 Parti Anak Jati Sarawak 35009 0 New Sarawak People's Organisation 10150 1 New Parti Umat Sarawak 3898 0 New Sarawak People's National Party 861 0 New Independents 44831 0 0 9424 0 385345Total Electors of Sarawak is 440276. The above table shows the registered voter count of contested constituency and there are three uncontested constituencies - Padawan, Baram and Bukit Mas Selangor Source: Barisan Nasional 4 United Malays National Organisation 107066 6 +1 Malaysian Chinese Association 83570 3 -1 Malaysian Indian Congress 21429 1 0 212565 10 0 Democratic Action Party 111050 1 0 Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party 36615 0 0 Malaysian Social Justice Party 4541 0 0 Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia 902 0 0 Independents 3257 0 0 14623 0 515497 Trengganu Source: Barisan Nasional United Malays National Organisation 75722 7 +3 Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party 49363 0 -3 Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia 4644 0 0 6367 0 178576Total electors is 207267. The above table shows the registered voters for contested constituencies and there is one uncontested constituency - Kuala Nerus See also 1978 Malaysian state elections Notes References Category:General elections in Malaysia Malaysia General