Malayan general election, 1955

Malayan general election, 1955

27 July 1955 (timelines) 1959 →
Members elected →
52 (of the 98) seats to the Federal Legislative Council 27 seats needed for a majority
Registered	1,280,855
Turnout	1,027,211 (82.8%)
First party Second party Third party   PMIP Leader Tunku Abdul Rahman Onn Jaafar Abbas Alias Party Alliance National Party PMIP Leader since 23 August 1951 (1951-08-23) 10 May 1946 (1946-05-10) 1953 Leader's seat Sungei Muda No seat No seat Seats won 51 No seats 1 Popular vote 818,013 78,909 40,667 Percentage 81.7% 7.9% 4.1%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   NAP PML Lab Leader D. S. Ramanathan Party National Association of Perak Perak Malay League Labour Party of Malaya Leader since 1953 Leader's seat No seat No seat Seats won No seats No seats No seats Seat change Popular vote 20,996 5,433 4,786 Percentage 2.1% 0.5% 0.5%   Seventh party   PPP Leader D. R. Seenivasagam Party Perak Progressive Party Leader since 1953 Leader's seat No seat Seats won No seats Popular vote 1,081 Percentage 0.1%
Elected Chief Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman Alliance

Tunku Abdul Rahman
Alliance

A general election was held on Wednesday, 27 July 1955, the only general election before Malaya's independence in 1957. It was held to elect members of the Federal Legislative Council, which prior to this was fully appointed by the British High Commissioner in Malaya. Voting took place in all 52 federal constituencies of Malaya, each electing one Federal Councillor to the Federal Legislative Council. State elections also took place in all 136 state constituencies in 9 states of Malaya and 2 settlements from 10 October 1954 to 12 November 1955, each electing one Councillor to the State Council or Settlement Council.

The election was the first in which the Malayan Indian Congress (MIC) contested. MIC joined the Alliance Party in 1954.

The Pan-Malayan Islamic Party (PMIP, later known as PAS) was formed primarily to contest in the 1955 election. Before that, PMIP was known as the "Pan-Malayan Islamic Association", as a part of UMNO. PMIP won support by proclaiming its aim of making Islam the base of the Malay society in the north of Malay Peninsula, which was facing the lowest economic growth in Malaya.

The election resulted in a decisive win for the Alliance, which consisted of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) and MIC, and a resounding defeat for Parti Negara, led by former UMNO president Onn Jaafar. Onn himself failed to win a seat, while the Alliance proceeded to form the new government, with its leader Tunku Abdul Rahman becoming Chief Minister.

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