1976 Sabah state election

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All 48 seats in theSabah State Legislative Assembly 25 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Fuad Stephens Mustapha Harun Party BERJAYA USNO Alliance Barisan Nasional (federal) Barisan Nasional (federal) Sabah Alliance (state) Leader since 1975 1961 Leader's seat Kiulu Banggi Last election New party 29 seats Seats won 28 20 Seat change 28 9 Popular vote 101,213 70,157 Percentage 53.86% 37.33%
Chief Minister before election Said Keruak USNO ElectedChief Minister Fuad Stephens BERJAYA

The1976 Sabah state election was held between Monday, 5 April and Saturday, 14 April 1976. This was the third state election to take place, and the first to feature opposition candidates since the first election on 1967, as the second state election on 1971 has all government candidates won uncontested.^[1] The state assembly were dissolved on 23 January 1976,^[2][3] and the nomination day was on 18 March 1976.^[4]

In the election, Parti Bersatu Rakyat Jelata Sabah (BERJAYA) led byFuad Stephens, won the election with a majority of 28 seats out of 48 seats in the newly expanded state assembly, and ousted incumbent governmentUnited Sabah National Organisation (USNO) from power.^[5][6] USNO, who is in coalition withSabah Chinese Association (SCA) that governs the state for the past 9 years, only won 20 seats while SCA lost all their seats.^[6]

BERJAYA was registered only less than a year earlier in July 1975, when some USNO members, dissatisfied with the party's direction under leadership ofMustapha Harun, chose to exit the party and form a new party.^[7] BERJAYA applied and successfully joinedBarisan Nasional after its registration.^[7] They would be later joined by then-Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sabah, Fuad Stephens, who resigned from his position to lead the new party as its president.

Mustapha himself in October 1975 has resigned from his position of Sabah's Chief Minister, a position he had held since USNO won thefirst state election, though he remained party leader. His deputy,Said Keruak, replaced him and was Chief Minister heading into the 1976 election. USNO also had convincing wins against BERJAYA candidates in two December 1975 state by-elections, in Kuala Kinabatangan and Labuan.^[1]

SCA, which was in the Sabah Alliance together with USNO, led by Michael Liaw, also contested in this election.^[8] Among other parties contesting were the United Sabah People's Organization, led by Richard E. Lee and Joe Manjaji, as well as the Peninsula-basedMalaysian Social Justice Party (PEKEMAS).^[8]

Days before nomination day, BERJAYA suffered two setbacks when its secretary-general Mohammad Noor Mansor was detained underInternal Security Act, which made him unable to contest the election^[9] with the party nominating his father as the replacement candidate,^[9] and,Ghani Gilong, then a federal minister and one of the founders of BERJAYA party as well as its vice president, announced that he was leaving BERJAYA to return to USNO, his former party.^[9]

At the time of the assembly's dissolution, out of 32 elected and 6 nominated members of the legislative assembly, Sabah Alliance held 34 seats, BERJAYA three seats and anindependent held one.^[4]

After BERJAYA's win in the election, Fuad was sworn in as the new Chief Minister.^[11][12][6] But Fuad's tenure was short-lived that lasted only for 44 days, as he and several of his cabinet ministers died in the helicopter crash on 6 June the same year.Harris Salleh, his deputy, would replace him as Chief Minister.

In April 1978, Mustapha announced his resignation as president of USNO for health reasons and was replaced by his deputy, Said Keruak.^[13]

• Sabah state elections
• 1976 elections in Malaysia

• CS1 Malay-language sources (ms)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata