1978 Malaysian general election

1978 Malaysian general election

← 1974 8–22 July 1978 1982 →

All 154 seats in the Dewan Rakyat
78 seats needed for a majority
Registered5,059,689
Turnout75.30%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Hussein Onn Lim Kit Siang Asri Muda
Party BN DAP PAS
Last election 60.81%, 135 seats 18.32%, 9 seats 13 seats
Seats won 130 16 5
Seat change Decrease 5 Increase 7 Decrease 8
Popular vote 1,987,907 664,433 537,720
Percentage 57.23% 19.13% 15.58%
Swing Decrease3.58pp Increase0.81pp

Prime Minister before election

Hussein Onn
BN

Prime Minister-designate

Hussein Onn
BN

General elections were held in Malaysia between Saturday, 8 July and Saturday, 22 July 1978.[1] Voting took place in all 154 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 276 state constituencies (except Kelantan, Sabah and Sarawak) on the same day.

It was Hussein Onn's first and only election since he became the country's third Prime Minister in 1976. His Barisan Nasional Party emerged victorious with 131 of the 154 seats in Parliament. Voter turnout was 75.3%.

  1. ^ Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p152 ISBN 0-19-924959-8