1959 Malayan general election

1959 Malayan general election

← 1955 19 August 1959 1964 →

All 104 seats in the Dewan Rakyat
53 seats needed for a majority
Registered2,133,272
Turnout1,564,575 (73.34%)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Tunku Abdul Rahman Burhanuddin al-Helmy Ahmad Boestamam
Party Alliance PMIP Socialist Front
Last election 81.68%, 51 seats 4.06%, 1 seat 0.48%, 0 seats
Seats won 74 13 8
Seat change Increase 23 Increase 12 Increase 8
Popular vote 800,944 329,070 199,688
Percentage 51.77% 21.27% 12.91%
Swing Decrease 29.91pp Increase 17.21pp Increase 12.43pp

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
  MP
Leader D. R. Seenivasagam Onn Jaafar Tan Kee Gak
Party PPP National Party Malayan Party
Last election 0.11%, 0 seats 7.88%, 0 seats
Seats won 4 1 1
Seat change Increase 4 Increase 1 New
Popular vote 97,391 32,578 13,404
Percentage 6.29% 2.11% 0.87%
Swing Increase 6.18pp Decrease 5.77pp New

Results by constituency

Prime Minister before election

Tunku Abdul Rahman
Alliance

Prime Minister-designate

Tunku Abdul Rahman
Alliance

General elections were held in the Federation of Malaya on Wednesday, 19 August 1959 for members of the first Parliament of the Federation of Malaya,[1] the first parliamentary election in Malaya. It was the third national-wide election held in Malaya since the end of World War II. Malaya later formed Malaysia with three other states in 1963. Voting took place in all 104 parliamentary constituencies of Malaya, each electing one Member of Parliament to the Dewan Rakyat, the dominant house of Parliament. Voter turnout was 73%.

In the election, the Alliance Party – later Barisan Nasional – emerged as the victor. The party was a coalition formed by United Malays National Organisation, Malayan Chinese Association and Malayan Indian Congress. The coalition won 74 out of 104 seats in the Dewan Rakyat with only 52% of the total vote. The opposition as a whole won 30 seats with 48% of the vote.

The 71% majority allowed Alliance Party to form a government as sanctioned by the constitution of Malaya.

When results were announced on the morning of 20 August, only 103 seats were returned as elections in the Kedah Tengah (Central Kedah) constituency was delayed until 30 September.[2] The Alliance proceeded to win this seat with Khir Johari as the winning candidate.

Prior to the parliamentary election, state elections took place in all 282 state constituencies in 11 states of Malaya from 20 May to 24 June 1959, each electing one Member to the State Legislative Assembly, the Dewan Undangan Negeri. As a result, PAS took over the administration of Terengganu and Kelantan but served only 2 terms before being retaken by Alliance.

Three Alliance candidates contested unopposed

  1. ^ Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p152 ISBN 0-19-924959-8
  2. ^ Arkib Negara: Pembentukan Kabinet Yang Pertama Selepas Merdeka[permanent dead link] (in Malay)