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1959 Malayan general election

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General elections were held in the Federation of Malaya on Wednesday, 19 August 1959 for members of the first Parliament of the Federation of Malaya,[1] the first parliamentary election in Malaya. It was the third national-wide election held in Malaya since the end of World War II. Malaya later formed Malaysia with three other states in 1963. Voting took place in all 104 parliamentary constituencies of Malaya, each electing one Member of Parliament to the Dewan Rakyat, the dominant house of Parliament. Voter turnout was 73%.

1959 Malayan general election
← 1955 19 August 1959 1964 →
All 104 seats in the Dewan Rakyat
53 seats needed for a majority
Registered2,133,272
Turnout1,564,575 (73.34%)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Tunku Abdul Rahman Burhanuddin al-Helmy Ahmad Boestamam
Party Alliance PMIP Socialist Front
Last election 81.68%, 51 seats 4.06%, 1 seat 0.48%, 0 seats
Seats won 74 13 8
Seat change Increase 23 Increase 12 Increase 8
Popular vote 800,944 329,070 199,688
Percentage 51.77% 21.27% 12.91%
Swing Decrease 29.91pp Increase 17.21pp Increase 12.43pp
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
  MP
Leader D. R. Seenivasagam Onn Jaafar Tan Kee Gak
Party PPP National Party Malayan Party
Last election 0.11%, 0 seats 7.88%, 0 seats –
Seats won 4 1 1
Seat change Increase 4 Increase 1 New
Popular vote 97,391 32,578 13,404
Percentage 6.29% 2.11% 0.87%
Swing Increase 6.18pp Decrease 5.77pp New
Results by constituency
Prime Minister before election

Tunku Abdul Rahman
Alliance

Prime Minister-designate

Tunku Abdul Rahman
Alliance

In the election, the Alliance Party – later Barisan Nasional – emerged as the victor. The party was a coalition formed by United Malays National Organisation, Malayan Chinese Association and Malayan Indian Congress. The coalition won 74 out of 104 seats in the Dewan Rakyat with only 52% of the total vote. The opposition as a whole won 30 seats with 48% of the vote.

The 71% majority allowed Alliance Party to form a government as sanctioned by the constitution of Malaya.

When results were announced on the morning of 20 August, only 103 seats were returned as elections in the Kedah Tengah (Central Kedah) constituency was delayed until 30 September.[2] The Alliance proceeded to win this seat with Khir Johari as the winning candidate.

Prior to the parliamentary election, state elections took place in all 282 state constituencies in 11 states of Malaya from 20 May to 24 June 1959, each electing one Member to the State Legislative Assembly, the Dewan Undangan Negeri. As a result, PAS took over the administration of Terengganu and Kelantan but served only 2 terms before being retaken by Alliance.

Three Alliance candidates contested unopposed

Timelines

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Dewan Rakyat

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  • Nomination date: 15 July 1959
  • Election day: 19 August 1959

State legislative assemblies

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State Nomination Date State election
  Perlis 15 April 1959 20 May 1959
  Kedah 15 April 1959 20 May 1959
  Malacca 18 April 1959 23 May 1959
  Perak 22 April 1959 27 May 1959
  Selangor 25 April 1959 30 May 1959
  Negeri Sembilan 28 April 1959 2 June 1959
  Penang 2 May 1959 6 June 1959
  Johor 6 May 1959 10 June 1959
  Pahang 13 May 1959 27 June 1959
  Terengganu 16 May 1959 20 June 1959
  Kelantan 20 May 1959 24 June 1959

Results

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Party or allianceVotes%Seats+/–
Alliance PartyUnited Malays National Organisation553,16035.7552+18
Malayan Chinese Association232,07315.0019+4
Malayan Indian Congress15,7111.023+1
Total800,94451.7774+23
Pan-Malayan Islamic Party329,07021.2713+12
Malayan Peoples'
Socialist Front		Labour Party of Malaya199,68812.916+6
Parti Ra'ayat2New
Total8New
People's Progressive Party97,3916.294+4
Parti Negara32,5782.111+1
Malayan Party13,4040.871New
Independents74,1944.803+3
Total1,547,269100.00104+52
Valid votes1,547,26998.89
Invalid/blank votes17,3061.11
Total votes1,564,575100.00
Registered voters/turnout2,133,27273.34
Source: Nohlen et al. [1][2][3][4]

By state

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Main article: Results of the 1959 Malayan general election by parliamentary constituency

Johore

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Party or allianceSeats+/–
Alliance PartyUnited Malays National Organisation11+7
Malayan Chinese Association5+2
Total16+2
Pan-Malayan Islamic Party0New
Total16+8

Kedah

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Party or allianceSeats+/–
Alliance PartyUnited Malays National Organisation10+6
Malayan Chinese Association20
Total12+6
Pan-Malayan Islamic Party00
Malayan Peoples'
Socialist Front		Labour Party of Malaya0New
Parti Ra'ayat0New
Total0New
Independents00
Total12+6

Kelantan

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PartySeats+/–
Pan-Malayan Islamic Party9+9
United Malays National Organisation1–4
Parti Negara0–4
Total10+5

Malacca

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Party or allianceSeats+/–
Alliance PartyUnited Malays National Organisation2+1
Malayan Chinese Association10
Total3+1
Malayan Party1New
Pan-Malayan Islamic Party0New
Total4+2

Negeri Sembilan

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Party or allianceSeats+/–
Alliance PartyUnited Malays National Organisation3+1
Malayan Indian Congress1New
Malayan Chinese Association0–1
Total4+1
Pan-Malayan Islamic Party0New
Independents2+2
Total6+3

Pahang

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Party or allianceSeats+/–
Alliance PartyUnited Malays National Organisation5+2
Malayan Chinese Association1New
Total6+3
Pan-Malayan Islamic Party00
Total6+3

Penang

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Party or allianceSeats+/–
Alliance PartyUnited Malays National Organisation3+1
Malayan Chinese Association20
Total5+1
Labour Party of Malaya3+3
Pan-Malayan Islamic Party00
People's Progressive Party0New
Independents00
Total8+4

Perak

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Party or allianceSeats+/–
Alliance PartyUnited Malays National Organisation9+4
Malayan Chinese Association5+2
Malayan Indian Congress10
Total15+6
People's Progressive Party4+1
Pan-Malayan Islamic Party0–1
Independents1+1
Total20+10

Perlis

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PartyVotes%Seats+/–
United Malays National Organisation17,65359.632+1
Pan-Malayan Islamic Party11,95040.370New
Total29,603100.002+1
Valid votes29,60399.25
Invalid/blank votes2230.75
Total votes29,826100.00
Registered voters/turnout38,35577.76

Selangor

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Party or allianceSeats+/–
Alliance PartyUnited Malays National Organisation5+1
Malayan Chinese Association30
Malayan Indian Congress1New
Total9+2
Malayan Peoples'
Socialist Front		Labour Party of Malaya30
Parti Ra'ayat2New
Total5New
Pan-Malayan Islamic Party00
Total14+7

Terengganu

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PartySeats+/–
Pan-Malayan Islamic Party4New
United Malays National Organisation1–2
Parti Negara1+1
Parti Ra'ayat0New
Independents0New
Total6+3

State Assemblies

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Main article: 1959 Malayan state elections

References

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  1. ^ Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p152 ISBN 0-19-924959-8
  2. ^ Arkib Negara: Pembentukan Kabinet Yang Pertama Selepas Merdeka[permanent dead link‍] (in Malay)
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