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1959 Malayan general election

← 1955 19 August 1959 1964 →
All 104 seats in the Dewan Rakyat 53 seats needed for a majority
Registered	2,133,272
Turnout	1,564,575 (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 23 12 8 Popular vote 800,944 329,070 199,688 Percentage 51.77% 21.27% 12.91% Swing 29.91pp 17.21pp 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 4 1 New Popular vote 97,391 32,578 13,404 Percentage 6.29% 2.11% 0.87% Swing 6.18pp 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, 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. 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

Timelines

Dewan Rakyat

• Nomination date: 15 July 1959
• Election day: 19 August 1959

State legislative assemblies

State	Nomination Date	State election
Perlis	15 April 1959	20 May 1959
Kedah	15 April 1959	20 May 1959
Malacca	18 April 1959	23 May 1959
Perak	22 April 1959	27 May 1959
Selangor	25 April 1959	30 May 1959
Negeri Sembilan	28 April 1959	2 June 1959
Penang	2 May 1959	6 June 1959
Johor	6 May 1959	10 June 1959
Pahang	13 May 1959	27 June 1959
Terengganu	16 May 1959	20 June 1959
Kelantan	20 May 1959	24 June 1959

Results

Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Alliance Party		United Malays National Organisation	553,160	35.75	52	+18
			Malayan Chinese Association	232,073	15.00	19	+4
			Malayan Indian Congress	15,711	1.02	3	+1
		Total		800,944	51.77	74	+23
	Pan-Malayan Islamic Party			329,070	21.27	13	+12
	Malayan Peoples' Socialist Front		Labour Party of Malaya	199,688	12.91	6	+6
			Parti Ra'ayat			2	New
		Total				8	New
	People's Progressive Party			97,391	6.29	4	+4
	Parti Negara			32,578	2.11	1	+1
	Malayan Party			13,404	0.87	1	New
	Independents			74,194	4.80	3	+3
Total				1,547,269	100.00	104	+52
Valid votes				1,547,269	98.89
Invalid/blank votes				17,306	1.11
Total votes				1,564,575	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				2,133,272	73.34
Source: Nohlen et al.

By state

Johore

Kedah

Kelantan

Malacca

Negeri Sembilan

Pahang

Penang

Perak

Perlis

Selangor

Terengganu

State Assemblies

References

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 (in Malay)

External links

• Documentary video about the 1959 elections Government of Malaysia (in Malay)

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Local	1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965
See also: Federal by-elections State by-elections Elections in Johor Kedah Kelantan Kuala Lumpur Labuan Malacca Negeri Sembilan Pahang Penang Perak Perlis Putrajaya Sabah Sarawak Selangor Terengganu

• General elections in Malaysia
• 1959 elections in Asia
• 1959 elections in Malaya
• Political history of Malaya