1985 Sabah state election

1985 Sabah state election
← 1981 20–21 April 1985 1986 →
All 48 seats in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly
25 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
Leader Joseph Pairin Kitingan Mustapha Harun Harris Salleh
Party PBS USNO BERJAYA
Alliance Barisan Nasional
Leader since 1984 1961 1976
Leader's seat Tambunan Usukan Tenom (lost)
Last election – 3 seats 44 seats
Seats won 25 16 7
Seat change New Increase13 Decrease37
Popular vote 101,908 71,457 84,194
Percentage 37.30% 26.15% 30.81%
Chief Minister before election

Harris Salleh
Barisan Nasional, (BERJAYA)

Elected Chief Minister

Joseph Pairin Kitingan
PBS

The 1985 Sabah state election was held between Saturday, 20 April and Sunday, 21 April 1985. This was the fifth state election to take place. Parti Bersatu Sabah won 25 out 48 seats contested, thus forming government with its president Joseph Pairin Kitingan being sworn in as Chief Minister.[1] This election is a milestone in Sabah political history as it marked the first time that a party not part of the nation's ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (BN) formed government.[2] PBS took control of the state from the previous ruling government under Parti Berjaya—a partner of BN, which has been in power since 1976.

  1. ^ "Berjaya swept out of power". New Straits Times via Google News. 22 April 1985. p. 1. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference asiansurvey was invoked but never defined (see the help page).