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Elections in Malaysia include elections to public office of the political entities that since 1963 have composed the federation ofMalaysia. At present, elections in Malaysia exist at two levels: federal level and state level. Federal level elections are those for membership in theDewan Rakyat, the lower house ofParliament, while state level elections are for membership in the variousState Legislative Assemblies. The heads ofexecutive branch at both the federal and state levels, thePrime Minister andMenteri Besar/Chief Ministers respectively, are usuallyindirectly elected, filled by a member of the majority party/coalition in the respective legislatures.

While any state may dissolve its assembly independently of the Federal Parliament, the traditional practice is for most state assemblies to be dissolved at the same time as Parliament, with the exception ofSabah andSarawak, although these two states had heldelections simultaneously with the rest of the country, as it is the case for Sabah in elections from 2004 to 2018, and Sarawak in the 1969 and 1974 elections. The practice of holding simultaneous elections was disrupted following the2020–2022 Malaysian political crisis, with only three states holding state elections at the same time as the2022 parliamentary general election.

Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats
	Pakatan Harapan		People's Justice Party (Malaysia)	2,442,038	15.72	31
			Democratic Action Party	2,422,577	15.59	40
			National Trust Party (Malaysia)	884,384	5.69	8
			Malaysian United Democratic Alliance	74,392	0.48	1
			United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation	72,751	0.47	2
		Total		5,896,142	37.95	82
	Perikatan Nasional		Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party	2,259,353	14.54	43
			Malaysian United Indigenous Party	2,102,151	13.53	31
			Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia	305,025	1.96	0
		Total		4,666,529	30.04	74
	Barisan Nasional		United Malays National Organisation	2,549,341	16.41	26
			Malaysian Chinese Association	665,436	4.28	2
			Malaysian Indian Congress	172,176	1.11	1
			Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah	23,877	0.15	1
			Malaysian Indian Muslim Congress	21,468	0.14	0
			Malaysia Makkal Sakti Party	10,660	0.07	0
			All Malaysian Indian Progressive Front	7,387	0.05	0
			Love Malaysia Party	5,417	0.03	0
		Total		3,455,762	22.24	30
	Gabungan Parti Sarawak		Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu	343,954	2.21	14
			Sarawak United Peoples' Party	167,063	1.08	2
			Progressive Democratic Party (Malaysia)	84,045	0.54	2
			Parti Rakyat Sarawak	67,539	0.43	5
		Total		662,601	4.26	23
	Heritage Party (Malaysia)			300,497	1.93	3
	Gabungan Rakyat Sabah		Gabungan Rakyat Sabah	94,085	0.61	4
			United Sabah Party	65,311	0.42	1
			Homeland Solidarity Party	29,874	0.19	1
			Sabah Progressive Party	5,054	0.03	0
		Total		194,324	1.25	6
	Gerakan Tanah Air		Homeland Fighter's Party	88,726	0.57	0
			Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia	12,061	0.08	0
			Pan-Malaysian Islamic Front	4,252	0.03	0
			National Indian Muslim Alliance Party	4,136	0.03	0
		Total		109,175	0.70	0
	Sarawak United People's Alliance		Parti Sarawak Bersatu	57,579	0.37	0
			Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru	3,053	0.02	0
			Parti Bumi Kenyalang	2,311	0.01	0
		Total		62,943	0.41	0
	Social Democratic Harmony Party			52,054	0.34	1
	Parti Bangsa Malaysia			16,437	0.11	1
	Socialist Party of Malaysia		Parti Rakyat Malaysia	5,865	0.04	0
			Socialist Party of Malaysia	779	0.01	0
		Total		6,644	0.04	0
	Sarawak People's Awareness Party			1,036	0.01	0
	Sabah People's Unity Party			541	0.00	0
	People's First Party			264	0.00	0
	Independents			111,043	0.71	2
Total				15,535,992	100.00	222

At the federal level, voters elect the 222-memberHouse of Representatives (Malay:Dewan Rakyat, literally "Hall of the People") of thebicameralParliament. Members are elected from single-memberconstituencies drawn based on population using thefirst past the post system. The party that has the majority of the House of Representatives will form the federal government.

TheConstitution of Malaysia requires that a general election must be held at least once every five years. However, thePrime Minister can ask theYang di-Pertuan Agong to dissolve theParliament at any time before this five-year period has expired. A general election should be held no later than 60 days after the dissolution of the Parliament.

Since independence, the parliamentary elections have most often been won by theBarisan Nasional (National Front, abbreviated BN, and its predecessor, theAlliance), a coalition of fourteen parties. The1969 election saw the first time the Alliance failed to attain a two-thirds majority in Parliament (two-thirds majority being the majority required to pass mostconstitutional amendments), which happened again in the2008 and2013 elections; the latter also saw the BN losing the popular vote while retaining the majority of seats. In the2018 general elections, thePakatan Harapan coalition defeated the BN at the federal level for the first time in history.

At thestate level, voters elect representatives to theDewan Undangan Negeri (State Legislative Assembly). The number of representatives varies between the different states, with as many as 82 electorates inSarawak and as little as 15 inPerlis. Members are elected from single-memberconstituencies drawn based on population using thefirst-past-the-post system. The party that forms the majority of the state assembly will form the state government.

State assembly constituencies are smaller in area and population than the parliamentary constituencies. Each parliamentary constituency outside of the federal territories is subdivided into a number of state assembly constituencies, usually two or three but can be as many as six.

Traditionally, state elections are held simultaneously with the parliamentary election but each state can decide when to hold its election. This is because state assemblies are dissolved by their respectiveRuler or governor on the advice of the chief minister of the state. For example, following the1977 Kelantan Emergency, a snap election was called inKelantan in March 1978, months ahead of thegeneral election in July 1978. A more recent example is that in the 1999 general election, the state elections of the 11 states onPeninsular Malaysia were held simultaneously with the parliamentary election, whileSabah already had its state election months earlier and theSarawak state assembly was not due for election until 2001. In the 2004 and 2008 general elections, the state election of Sabah were held simultaneously with the parliamentary election as well, but Sarawak held its state election in 2006 and 2011.^[1]

The practice of holding simultaneous elections was disrupted following the2018 elections and the2020–2022 Malaysian political crisis. Early state elections took place in Sabah (2020),Malacca (2021) andJohor (2022). Sarawak held its delayed state election in December 2021. When the 14th Parliament was dissolved on 10 October 2022 to make way for the15th general election, six out of nine states with elections due in 2023 opted not to dissolve their state assemblies at the same time, leaving only three states (Pahang,Perak andPerlis) holding state elections concurrently with the parliamentary election.

Before the 2008 elections, the Barisan Nasional and its predecessor the Alliance controlled most of the state assemblies in every election, while occasionally losing some states, most notably Kelantan which was controlled by thePan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) from 1959 to 1978 (the last four years as part of BN) and again since 1990. The worst result for the Alliance was in 1969, when it lost its majority in Perak, Selangor and Penang in addition to Kelantan. In the 2008 elections, in addition to Kelantan, BN lost four states (Penang, Kedah, Perak and Selangor) to the loose coalition of opposition parties (later known as thePakatan Rakyat (People's Pact, abbreviated PR)) composed of PAS,Democratic Action Party (DAP) andPeople's Justice Party (PKR). Perak was returned to BN control in 2009 following aconstitutional crisis. In the 2013 elections, BN recaptured the state of Kedah, leaving Kelantan, Penang and Selangor in PR control.

Following the 2018 elections, the BN only retained control of the states ofPerlis,Pahang andSarawak.PAS retainsKelantan while capturingTerengganu. ThePakatan Harapan coalition retains control ofPenang andSelangor as well as capturing the states ofKedah,Perak,Negeri Sembilan,Melaka andJohor. An informal alliance betweenParti Warisan Sabah and Pakatan Harapan also took control of the state ofSabah. BN still remained governing the state of Sarawak, which they won in the state elections held in 2016, until the Sarawak BN parties left the coalition in 2018, thus formingGabungan Parti Sarawak.

In 2023, after2022 Malaysian general election held in 19 November 2022, an official local coalition ofGabungan Rakyat Sabah took control of the state ofSabah and theGabungan Parti Sarawak remained governing the state ofSarawak. Meanwhile, an informal alliance betweenPakatan Harapan andBarisan Nasional took control ofWest Malaysia.

This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(January 2025)

Although there used to be elections for members oflocal governments such asmunicipal councils, today, no local government elections are held in Malaysia. Local government elections were suspended after theIndonesia-Malaysia confrontation in 1964. The suspension was never lifted and instead made permanent under theLocal Government Act 1976. Under the Act, or the laws of individual states where relevant, local government members are appointed by the state government.^[2]

After Minister andPeople's Progressive Party PresidentM. Kayveas raised concerns about local governments in late 2005, some suggested reviving local government elections. However, in an opinion column of theNew Straits Times (owned by theUnited Malays National Organisation or UMNO, leading party of the Barisan Nasional) quoted a professor fromUniversiti Kebangsaan Malaysia as saying that such elections would not be brought back because "policymakers know from experience worldwide that the Opposition tends to dominate such councils as part of the electorate's desire for checks-and-balances." The professor also stated that due to required constitutional changes, it would be difficult for such amendments to pass muster in Parliament. The column also quoted a government ministry as saying that "holding elections are expensive affairs".^[3]

As of 2008, thePakatan Rakyat states' governments would like to implement the local government election in their states. However, these was not carried out due to the Federal Constitution which prohibits the implementation. It was only afterPakatan Harapan won the2018 Malaysian general election that the new government began the process of looking into and reintroducing local elections after 55 years, with a trial run slated for 2019 in select cities.^[4]

In addition to general elections, a by-election occurs when a particular seat in the Dewan Rakyat becomes vacant.Such a vacancy can occur when, a member of parliament (MP) dies, and an MP is disqualified from being a member of the Dewan Rakyat; a seat is declared vacant because the MP has been absent from every sitting of the Dewan Rakyat for a period of six months without leave of the Dewan Rakyat, and the members of the Dewan Rakyat have decided to declare the seat vacant. The exception is if the vacancy occurs when the tenure for the current Parliament or state assembly is less than two years, where the seat is simply left vacant until the next general election.

It is the role of the Election Commission to draw, review and re-delineate electoral district boundaries. The lastdelineation was made on 21 March 2003.^[5] As of 2013, there are a total of 222 parliamentary districts and 576 state assembly districts in Malaysia.^[5] The EC has been accused of practisinggerrymandering during delineation exercises.^[6][7]

Under Article 113 of theConstitution of Malaysia, the EC may conduct a review and recommend changes to electoral boundaries at an interval of not less than 8 years from the last review and delineation.^[8]

Elections are supervised by a seven-member Election Commission. Its members are appointed by theYang di-Pertuan Agong following the advice of the Prime Minister.

Nomination centres are set up in various locations by the Election Commission to allow candidates to register themselves. Typically any Malaysian citizen may register as a candidate unless disqualified. Candidates file the appropriate forms and place a monetary deposit. The deposit was RM5000 to contest a parliamentary seat, or RM3000 to contest a state assembly seat. This amount was changed to RM 10,000 and RM 5,000 respectively in 2004. Additionally in 2004 it was required that each candidate provide a RM 5,000 deposit for cleaning up banners and posters after the election. This increase is seen by some as having led to the government winning a record number of seats without contest in 2004 (17 parliamentary seats were won without contest). The deposit is used to pay for infringements of election laws and is returned after polling day unless the candidate loses and fails to garner more than 1/8 of the vote.^[9]

As of the 2004 elections, candidates may have a lawyer present at these proceedings. Some candidates have been disqualified from previous elections as they lacked the competence to fill in the forms correctly.

In 2004 candidates were given 1-hour to fill in and return their nomination forms as opposed to 2 hours previously. This led to disqualification of certain candidates who were unaware of the change.

The campaign period permitted by law runs from the date of nomination day until polling day. Campaigning amongst opposition parties is often hampered by a lack of access to government-controlled media. Prior to the 1999 general election, opposition parties were given a brief period of airtime on the publicRadio Television Malaysia (RTM) radio stations to broadcast their manifestoes. However, the government announced a change of policy in 1999, insisting that as RTM was government-owned, preference would be given to government parties.^[10]

On election day, registered voters may cast their ballot for their chosen candidate in a designated voting centre. These voting centres are typically schools or community centres which have been procured for that day. All activities in the school are suspended for that day. Holidays are also declared in states where election day does not fall on a weekend to allow maximum turnout.

Certain political parties will provide transport for voters to and from the voting centre. While campaigning is not allowed on election day, transportation is seen as something of a social service, especially since many people did not have a personal means of conveyance until the last decade or two, as of 2004.

No campaigning or advocacy for candidates is allowed within a voting centre. However, just outside the gate of most voting centres, there will be people plugging the various candidates.

Each candidate is allowed one agent per voting centre. Their job starts early and begins by inspecting that the metal ballot boxes have not been tampered. They also ensure that the boxes are securely locked before voting begins. After locking, the boxes are sealed by the election commission and each agent may place their own seal on the box.

The agents also ensure that the ballot papers given out to voters do not contain markings. In the past certain parties have marked the ballot papers for their own candidates. This will result in a spoilt vote which is discarded during counting. Some ballot papers have been coated with waxy surfaces to prevent voting for certain candidates. The agents ensure that these events do not occur.

The last task of the agent is to ensure that, on the close of voting, the ballot boxes are still secure and the seals are intact. This may be done at a designated counting centre instead of the voting centre. The boxes are opened once the agents are certain that there is no tampering.

Since 15 December 2021, Malaysian citizens 18 years old and above are automatically registered to vote. Voting is not compulsory.

After identity verification at a voting centre, each voter receives two paper ballots, one for the parliamentary seat of the constituency and another for the state assembly seat. Infederal territories, where there is no state assembly, and states whose state election is held on a different date, each voter receives only one ballot for the parliamentary seat.

Each voter walks into individual booth to mark ballots while maintaining confidentiality. The voter marks on each ballot the candidate of his or her choice with a cross beside the candidate's name and party symbol. After completing, the voter folds the ballots and drops them into separate ballot boxes for parliamentary and state assembly seats.

After the close of voting the election agents check the ballot boxes prior to opening and counting. They also monitor the counting to ensure that the total ballots are the same as the number of votes cast. This extends to checking the number of "double votes". Every ballot paper has a serial number on it and they are given out sequentially. Agents may come to check that the serial numbers match up. The counting of the ballots is done by hand.

After a count at the voting centre the boxes are transported to the counting centre for a second count. If all candidates agree to the count then it stands or else an immediate re-count is done at the counting centre.

Election results are announced through live broadcasts by radio and television stations. Some newspapers print special editions to cover the election results. In most constituencies, the results will be out on the night of the election day. In some rural constituencies and constituencies that need recounts, the results may not be announced until the next day. In recent years, the younger voters have started staying updated with the polling results via social media and news apps.^[11]

There are a few offences under election law. Most of these pertain to acts which induce a voter to cast his ballot for a candidate. It is also an offence to use these actions to induce voters not to cast ballots at all. These offences extend to using third parties as agents to commit them.

• It is an offence to provide food, drinks or refreshments with a view to induce voters to either vote for a particular candidate or not vote at all.
• It is illegal to provide monetary rewards for voting for a certain candidate.
• It is an offence to threaten a person to vote for a candidate or not to vote. In 2004 this was extended to include "spiritual threats". This was due to thePan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) told citizens in less developed parts of the country not voting for the PAS is forbidden and that a vote for them would be rewarded by God.
• It is an offence to obstruct passage to and from a voting centre. Setting up a location for any candidate within 50 yards (50 m) of the voting centre is an offence. Similarly, loitering in this zone is also an offence. Only voters are allowed in this zone on voting day.
• It is technically an offence to provide transportation to a voting centre. However, this is not normally enforced as all parties do this to some degree. It is a further offence to use a vehicle that is normally rented out (such as a taxi or hired bus) to provide such transportation. The only exception to this is that it is allowed to provide for the crossing of rivers. No passengers of any vehicle can be forced to alight within 50 yards (46 m) of a candidate's booth on voting day.
• Each candidate is not allowed to spend more than RM 200,000 (parliamentary) or RM 100,000 (state) for campaigning under Section 19 of the Elections Offences Act, 1954.

The 14th Parliament of Malaysia was dissolved on 10 October 2022. The 15th Malaysian general election (GE15) was held on 19 November 2022.

TheConstitution of Malaysia stipulates that a parliament lasts for five years from the day of its first sitting unless dissolved earlier by theYang di-Pertuan Agong due to amotion of no-confidence or at the request of thePrime Minister, and a general election must be held no more than 60 days following a dissolution. The first meeting of the first session of the 15th Parliament of Malaysia was held on 19 December 2022,^[12] which means the 15th Parliament (if not dissolved earlier) will automatically dissolve on 19 December 2027, and the next general election will be held by 17 February 2028.

The 222 members of the Dewan Rakyat are elected from single-member constituencies using thefirst-past-the-post voting system. Malaysia does not practicecompulsory voting. On 16 July 2019, the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2019 thatrequires a two-thirds majority of at least 148 votes from the 222-seatDewan Rakyat to lower thevoting age to 18 was passed with a total of 211 votes.^[13] The 2022 general election was the first to utilize automatic voter registration of all Malaysian citizens aged 18 and above.

The legitimacy ofredelineation ofelectoral boundaries for the entire country are currently under review by theElection Commission (EC),^[14] which is under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister's Department. The redelineation was approved 2 months beforeGE14, which saw enormous malapportionment between constituencies e.g. in Selangor,Sabak Bernam has 40,000 voters but inBangi, there are 180,000 voters. Because Article 113 of the Federal Constitution stated that the EC could only conduct a redelineation exercise after eight years from the date of the last exercise or if there was a change in the number of parliamentary seats under Article 46. If the exercise is necessary for the next general election, amendments have to be made to the Federal Constitution and have to be passed with a two-thirds majority in Dewan Rakyat.^[15]

Each state may dissolve its assembly independently of the Federal Parliament. In accordance with Malaysian law, theparliament as well as thelegislative assemblies of each state (Dewan Undangan Negeri) would automatically dissolve on the fifth anniversary of the first sitting, and elections must be held within sixty days of the dissolution, unless dissolved prior to that date by their respectiveHeads of State on the advice of theirHeads of Government.

Below are the dates of which the legislative assembly of each state would automatically dissolve:

State (and Assembly)	Term start	Term end (on or before)	Next election day (on or before)
Sabah (16th)	9 October 2020	6 October 2025	29 November 2025
Sarawak (19th)	14 February 2022	14 November 2026	10 April 2027
Malacca (15th)	27 December 2021	27 December 2026	25 February 2027
Johor (15th)	21 April 2022	21 April 2027	20 June 2027
Perak (15th)	19 December 2022	19 December 2027	17 February 2028
Perlis (15th)	19 December 2022	19 December 2027	17 February 2028
Pahang (15th)	29 December 2022	29 December 2027	27 February 2028
Penang (15th)	29 August 2023	29 August 2028	28 October 2028
Kelantan (15th)	5 September 2023	5 September 2028	4 November 2028
Selangor (15th)	19 September 2023	19 September 2028	18 November 2028
Terengganu (15th)	24 September 2023	24 September 2028	23 November 2028
Kedah (15th)	25 September 2023	25 September 2028	24 November 2028
Negeri Sembilan (15th)	26 September 2023	26 September 2028	25 November 2028

• Electoral calendar
• Electoral system
• List of the winning political parties in the Malaysian general election by parliamentary constituency

• Chin, James. 2002. "Malaysia: The Barisan National Supremacy." In David Newman & John Fuh-sheng Hsieh (eds),How Asia Votes, pp. 210–233. New York: Chatham House, Seven Bridges Press.ISBN 1-889119-41-5.
• Chow, Kum Hor (8 October 2005). "'Third government' is ratepayers' bugbear".New Straits Times, p. 18.
• Crouch, Harold. 1996.Government and Society in Malaysia. Ithaca, NY; London: Cornell University Press.ISBN 0-8014-8310-7.

• Adam Carr's Election Archive
• Lim Hong Hai (2002)."Electoral Politics in Malaysia: 'Managing' Elections in a Plural Society"(PDF). In Aurel Croissant; Gabriele Bruns; Marei John (eds.).Electoral politics in Southeast & East Asia. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.ISBN 981-04-6020-1.
• Greg Lopez (8 November 2022)."Explainer: Malaysia's Electoral System". New Naratif.

• Elections in Malaysia

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