Malaysian General Election 2008

Malaysian general election, 2008

← 2004 8 March 2008 (2008-03-08) 2013 →
← outgoing members Members elected →
All 222 seats to the Dewan Rakyat 112 seats needed for a majority
Registered	10,922,139
Turnout	8,161,039 (75.99%)
First party Second party   Leader Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Wan Azizah Wan Ismail Party Barisan Nasional Pakatan Rakyat Leader since 31 October 2003 (2003-10-31) 4 April 1999 (1999-04-04) Leader's seat Kepala Batas Permatang Pauh Last election 198 seats, 63.90% 21 seats, 34.00% Seats won 140 82 Seat change 58 61 Popular vote 4,082,411 3,796,464 Percentage 51.39% 47.79% Swing 12.51% 13.79%
Results in parliamentary ridings
Prime Minister before election Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Barisan Nasional Elected Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Barisan Nasional

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Barisan Nasional

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Barisan Nasional

A general election was held on Saturday, 8 March 2008 for members of the 12th Parliament of Malaysia. Voting took place in all 222 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 505 state constituencies in 12 out of 13 states (excluding Sarawak) on the same day.

The 12th Parliament was dissolved on 13 February 2008, and the following day, the Election Commission announced nominations would be held on 24 February, with general polling set for 8 March.State assemblies of all states other than Sarawak were also dissolved and their elections took place at the same time.

Political parties were reported to have begun preparations for the polls as early as January 2008. As in 2004, the incumbent National Front coalition, the ruling political alliance since independence, as well as opposition parties represented primarily by Democratic Action Party (DAP), the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) contested the election.

As with all preceding general elections following independence, the parliamentary election was won by BN, but yielded one of the worst results in the coalition's history. Opposition parties had won 82 seats in the 222-seat Dewan Rakyat and 47.79% of the vote, while BN only managing to secure the remaining 140 seats and 51.39% of the vote. It marked also the first time since the 1969 election that the coalition did not win a two-thirds supermajority in the Malaysian Parliament required to pass amendments to the Malaysian Constitution. In addition, five of the twelve contested state legislatures were won by the opposition, compared with only one in the last election.