General elections were held in theFederation of Malaya on Wednesday, 27 July 1955, the onlygeneral election beforeindependence in 1957. They were held to elect members of theFederal Legislative Council, whose members had previously been fully appointed by theBritish High Commissioner. Voting took place in all 52 federal constituencies, each electing one member. State elections also took place in all 136 state constituencies in nine states of Malaya and two settlements from 10 October 1954 to 12 November 1955, each electing one councillor to the State Council or Settlement Council.
ThePan-Malayan Islamic Party (PMIP) was formed primarily to contest in the 1955 elections. Previously the PMIP had been known as the "Pan-Malayan Islamic Association", as a part of theUnited Malays National Organisation (UMNO). PMIP won support by proclaiming its aim of makingIslam the base of theMalay society in the north ofMalay Peninsula, which was facing the lowest economic growth in Malaya.
Thirty Alliance candidates had majorities of over 10,000 votes. Nine of them had majorities of over 20,000. Forty-three of their opponents lost their deposits.[2]
TheAlliance Party won around 80% of the total vote and 51 out of 52 seats contested. PMIP won their only seat inKrian, Perak. Its sole winning candidate, HajiAhmad Tuan Hussein, an Islamic scholar, was subsequently nicknamed "Mr.Opposition". Voter turnout was 82.8%.
Total Electorate for Penang is 99726. However, the registered voter count above refers to the four constituencies that were contested and excludes Wellesley North (Uncontested constituency)
Johor
Terengganu
Selangor
Kedah
Kelantan
Perlis
Pahang
Negeri Sembilan
Perak
Penang
Malacca
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