A Summary Of The 2023 State Election Results In 6 States!

This article is written by one of our contributors, Dr Ahmad Zaharuddin Sani Ahmad Sabri. He is a former director at Tun Dr Mahathir’s Institute of Thoughts. 

Both camps maintained a 3-to-3 ruling power, with the unity government in Penang, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan; and the green wave of the Perikatan Nasional in Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu. The total turnout was 70.1%, a significant drop from 82.49% in 2018.

By coalition election vote share:

– Pakatan Harapan (PH) 2,477,668 votes, 36.1%

– Barisan Nasional (BN) 921,804 votes, 13.4%

– Perikatan Nasional (PN) 3,382,454 votes, 49.3%

– Others 74,417 votes, 1.2%

In summary:

– Unity government total vote share 49.5%

– Perikatan Nasional total vote share 49.3%

By state vote share: (Winning side)

Penang – Unity government 66.7%

Selangor – Unity government 60.6%

N.Sembilan – Unity government 60.8%

Kedah – Perikatan Nasional 68.9%

Kelantan – Perikatan Nasional 69.2%

Terengganu – Perikatan Nasional 67.9%

By seats won:

– Unity government 80 seats, representing 35.4% of the total seats in the six states

– Perikatan Nasional 146 seats, representing 64.6% of the total seats in the six states

Apart from the mainstream parties, independent candidates and third-force newcomers failed to break through, with MUDA losing deposits in all 19 seats contested, a non-combat crime, as most voters were more concerned about whether the unity government could retain its three original states.

Within the unity government camp, the total number of seats won dropped from 114 to 80. Apart from DAP’s slight drop of two seats, the other parties suffered a sharp decline in seats.

PKR was 52 and is reduced to 26,

DAP was 48 and is reduced to 46

AMANAH was 14 and is reduced to 8

UMNO was 42 and is reduced to 19

Within the Perikatan Nasional camp, the total number of seats won rose from 88 to 146, with PAS’s strength soaring.

PAS was 76 and increased to 105

Bersatu was 12 and increased to 40

Following that, this state election was a close fight between the two sides, with many winning seats being narrow victories. I define narrow victories as having a majority of less than 2000 votes. 

The Perikatan Nasional narrow wins in Selangor led to its rise, from six seats to 22. PKR lost half of its seats in Selangor. The smallest margin of victory among the Perikatan Nasional winning seats was only 30 votes.

Examples:

Taman Medan 30 votes, Gombak Setia 58 votes, Sungai Kandis 167 votes, Dengkil 407 votes, Bukit Melawati 877 votes.

Terengganu was swept by a green wave, with Perikatan Nasional winning all seats and UMNO left with none.

In Kelantan, AMANAH successfully planted its flag by winning one seat through a narrow victory, achieving a breakthrough; while UMNO only managed to retain one seat (down from eight in the previous term).

In Kedah, MCA successfully broke its duck by winning Kulim, a southern technological hub; among the three unity government assemblymen who won in Kedah, all were Chinese; AMANAH failed to defend its seats; PAS swept all the seats it contested in Kedah; UMNO suffered a crushing defeat.

In Negeri Sembilan, the unity government remained strong, but Perikatan Nasional managed to break its duck by winning five seats; all eight seats won by UMNO were narrow victories.

In Penang, DAP unsurprisingly won all the seats it contested, but one of the former strongholds of the prime minister, Permatang Pauh, lost all three state seats to the opposition; as in Selangor, PKR also lost half of its seats; the Perikatan Nasional grew stronger in the island’s hinterland and the mainland’s northern part.

In conclusion, the unity government achieved its goal of retaining three state governments, but the “hope for 3 + 1” was apparently just some encouraging words to boost morale. Undeniably, although it was a “successful retention of three” on the surface, the reality was that the green wave brought a chilling wind, especially for PKR and UMNO. DAP showed resilience in this state election, while AMANAH did well too, except for losing in Kedah where the wind was blowing fiercely.

Many of UMNO’s original supporters, especially Malay votes, abandoned UMNO and switched to Perikatan Nasional, presumably due to their disgust with UMNO, resulting in only 19 seats out of 127 contested. This performance can no longer be described as a “defeat”, but a professional term called “annihilation”.

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