Editor’s introduction
Main Article Content
Abstract
Malaysia is a representative democracy. Regular elections are held to choose the 222 parliamentary representatives and 13 state legislative assembly representatives. The Parti Perikatan and its successor, Barisan Nasional (BN), gained more than two-thirds of the seats in the federal parliament from 1955 to 2008 (except in 1969). This record was broken in 2008 as a result of the emergence of the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and the defeat of BN in five states. In 2013, BN failed to maintain its customary two thirds majority for the second time under Malaysia’s sixth Prime Minister, Najib Razak. Sabah and Sarawak BN emerged as “fixed deposit states” in both the 2008 and 2013 elections, contributing a sufficient number of seats to prevent PR from assuming control of the federal government.
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