Malaysian general election, 1964

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Malaysian general election, 1964

← 1959 25 April 1964 1969 →

104 (of the 159) seats to the Dewan Rakyat
53 seats needed for a majority
Registered 2,681,895
Turnout 2,146,608 (78.9%)
  First party Second party Third party
  Tunku abd rahman.jpg 130x130px
Leader Tunku Abdul Rahman Burhanuddin al-Helmy
Party Alliance Socialist Front PAS
Leader since 23 August 1951 21 March 1964 1956
Leader's seat Kuala Kedah Batu No seat
Last election 74 seats, 51.8% 8 seats, 12.9% 13 seats, 21.3%
Seats won 89 2 9
Seat change Increase 15 Decrease 6 Decrease 4
Popular vote 1,204,340 330,898 301,187
Percentage 58.5% 16.1% 14.6%
Swing Increase 6.7% Increase 3.2% Decrease 6.7%

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
  UDP PPP Lee Kuan Yew.jpg
Leader Lim Chong Eu D. R. Seenivasagam Lee Kuan Yew
Party United Democratic Party People's Progressive Party PAP
Leader since 1962 10 April 1953 21 November 1954
Leader's seat Tanjong Ipoh No seat
Last election New Party 4 seats, 6.3% New Party
Seats won 1 2 1
Seat change Decrease 2
Popular vote 88,223 69,898 42,130
Percentage 4.3% 3.4% 2.0%

  Seventh party
 
Leader Onn Jaafar
Party National Party
Leader since 10 May 1946
Leader's seat No seat
Last election 1 seat, 2.1%
Seats won No seats
Seat change Decrease 1
Popular vote 7,319
Percentage 0.4%
Swing Decrease 1.7%

300px

Prime Minister before election

Tunku Abdul Rahman
Alliance

Prime Minister-designate

Tunku Abdul Rahman
Alliance

A general election was held on Saturday, 25 April 1964 for members of the 2nd Parliament of Malaysia. Voting took place in 104 out of 159 parliamentary constituencies of Malaysia, each electing one Member of Parliament to the Dewan Rakyat, the dominant house of Parliament..[1] State elections also took place in 282 state constituencies in 11 (out of 14, except Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore) states of Malaysia on the same day.

The result was a victory for the Alliance Party, which won 89 of the 104 seats. Voter turnout was 78.9%. The result also contributed towards the eventual expulsion of Singapore from Malaysia. The Singaporean-based People's Action Party decided to run on the mainland, and although it attracted large crowds at its rallies, it won only one seat — that by Devan Nair, who represented the Bungsar constituency (now part of Seputeh and Lembah Pantai constituencies). It is thought by some historians that Finance Minister and MCA President Tan Siew Sin's appeal to the Chinese to avoid challenging the Malay special rights and risk merger with Indonesia helped the MCA retain its status as the "undisputed leader of the Chinese in the Malayan peninsula". Nevertheless, UMNO leaders were furious with the PAP.

Although it was the first parliamentary general election held after the formation of Malaysia in 1963, the election was not held in Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak. Transitional provisions allowed the state legislatures of the three states to choose their parliamentary representatives until the next election. The three states have been allocated a total of 55 seats in the Malaysian Parliament: 15 seats for Singapore, 16 seats for Sabah and 24 seats for Sarawak. Together, the three states held 34% out the 159 seats in the parliament. This was intended to act as a check to prevent parliament from passing constitutional amendments (which require a two-thirds majority) without the agreement of representatives from the three new states. After Singapore left Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak were only left with 25% of the seats, as a consequence Sabah and Sarawak were not able to stop the parliament from approving laws that would encroach on the special rights granted to Sabah and Sarawak upon merger to form Malaysia.

Results

Parliamentary results

Political Party Votes % of vote Seats % of seats +/–
Alliance Party Alliance 1,204,340 58.5 89 85.6 +15
United Malays National Organisation UMNO 38.1 59 56.7 +7
Malayan Chinese Association MCA 18.7 27 26.0 +8
Malayan Indian Congress MIC 1.6 3 2.9 0
Malayan Peoples' Socialist Front SF 330,898 16.1 2 1.9 -6
Labour Party of Malaya Lab 2 1.9 -4
Parti Ra'ayat Ra'ayat 0 0.0 -2
Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party PAS 301,187 14.6 9 8.7 -4
United Democratic Party UDP 88,223 4.3 1 1.0 New
People's Progressive Party PPP 69,898 3.4 2 1.9 -2
People's Action Party PAP 42,130 2.0 1 1.0 New
National Party Negara 7,319 0.4 0 0.0 -1
Independents IND 13,509 0.7 0 0.0 -3
Valid votes 2,057,504
Invalid/blank votes 89,104
Total (turnout: 78.9%) 2,146,608 100.0 104 100.0 0
Did not vote 535,287
Registered voters 2,681,895
Source: Nohlen et al. [1][2][3]
  • Two Alliance candidates won uncontested.

References

  1. Nohlen, D, Grotz, F & Hartmann, C (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p152 ISBN 0-19-924959-8