General elections were held in Malaysia on Saturday, 8 March 2008. Voting took place in all 222 parliamentary constituencies of Malaysia, each electing one Member of Parliament to the Dewan Rakyat, the dominant house of Parliament. State elections also took place in 505 state constituencies in 12 of the 13 states (excluding Sarawak) on the same day.
The 11th Parliament was dissolved on 13 February 2008, and the following day the Election Commission announced nominations would be held on 24 February, with general voting set for 8 March. State assemblies of all states except Sarawak (due to election having been held there in 2006) were also dissolved and their elections took place at the same time.
Political parties were reported to have begun preparations for the polls as early as January 2008. As in 2004, the incumbent Barisan Nasional coalition, the ruling political alliance since independence, as well as opposition parties represented primarily by Democratic Action Party (DAP), the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), and People's Justice Party (PKR) contested the election.
As with all preceding general elections following independence, the parliamentary election was won by BN, but this election also yielded the worst results in the coalition's history until the election ten years later. Opposition parties won 82 seats in the 222-seat Dewan Rakyat and 48% of the vote, while BN only managed to secure the remaining 140 seats and 51% of the vote.
It marked the first time since the 1969 election that the coalition did not win a two-thirds supermajority in the Malaysian Parliament required to pass amendments to the Malaysian Constitution. In addition, five of the twelve contested state legislatures were won by the opposition, compared with only one in the last election but Perak was retaken by Barisan Nasional after 11-month administration by Pakatan Rakyat coalition. This marked the end of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's tenure as prime minister before his handover to Najib Razak several months later.
As of the 2022 general election, this is the last time the Barisan Nasional won the overall popular vote.
Background The Malaysian Parliament was dissolved on 13 February 2008 by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King) on the advice of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, from which a general election will be required to be held within the 60 days, between 13 February 2008 and 13 April 2008. The announcement of the dissolution was done a day after the Prime Minister publicly denied that Parliament would be dissolved on 13 February.
Speculation on the exact polling date was rife, as political analysts expected polling to be held after the Chinese New Year on 7 February and during the week-long school holidays from 7 to 16 March, as schools will be available for use as polling stations. Political analysts saw a March election as an attempt by the Prime Minister to garner a fresh mandate before a slowdown in the global and Malaysian economies, and in an effort to bar Anwar Ibrahim from contesting, as he is permitted to re-enter politics on 14 April 2008.
On 14 February, the Election Commission announced nominations would be held on 24 February, with general election set for 8 March. This will allow for 13 days of campaigning to take place. Anwar Ibrahim subsequently criticised the Prime Minister on the choice of date, calling the move a "dirty trick" and a sign of "Prime Minister Abdullah [...] getting personal." There were expectations that a Member of Parliament from Anwar's party, Parti Keadilan Rakyat, would resign after that date to pave the way for a by-election which Anwar could contest to attempt a comeback in Parliament. At the time these claims were unsubstantiated, however, the expectations were fulfilled when Anwar's wife vacated her seat.
Campaign
The Merdeka Centre ran a survey in 2008 to gauge public sentiment and the result was published soon after. There was a series of issues raised by all sides in the run-up to the election. Among the issues are inflation, shortage of goods, fuel subsidies, rising crime, majority government, mismanagement, corruption, the demand for free and fair elections by a group of NGOs and political parties under the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH), racial equality especially as highlighted by HINDRAF, Internal Security Act detainees, the case surrounding the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam Video Clip and the eligibility of former Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Anger among ethnic Indians regarding issues such as restrictions on jobs, education, freedom of religion and rights, and a widespread feeling of loss of dignity have played a part during the 2008 parliamentary elections in Malaysia. One of the other main issues brought up has been whether the election would be conducted fairly. The opposition has pointed out these issues are gerrymandering of electoral districts, uneven media access, outdated electoral systems, election fraud and vote buying.
Besides, it was also alleged that the anti-Khairy Jamaluddin sentiment became another main factor in the National Front's heavy losses, as stated by Mahathir Mohamad. Khairy Jamaluddin is the son-in-law of the current Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and was accused of influencing the Prime Minister when making critical decisions.
Government
Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party and their National Front partners ran a younger crop of candidates with fewer ties to former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, the architect of the country's affirmative-action policies in the election. Abdullah said he needed "one or two more terms" to successfully complete various economic projects he has started.
The government wished to retake the mandate of the opposition state of Kelantan from PAS, promising the Kelantanese people major development projects and jobs. Awang Adek Hussin, a deputy minister heading UMNO's campaign in Kelantan said that if voted in they would repair or build 500 mosques, including a Grand Mosque, to woo Muslim voters.
In Sabah, chief minister and Sabah BN chairman Musa Aman announced that the same formula used in the 2004 election would be used in this election with regard to the allocation of seats among BN's component parties of Sabah. Sabah BN has used the same allocation formula for both the parliamentary election as well as for the state election. In this election, UMNO would contest in 13 parliamentary seats, Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) would contest in four, United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (UPKO) in four, Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) in two, Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) in one, and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in one.
BN coalition rolled out a major publicity campaign with a slogan promising "security, peace, prosperity" in advertisements that featured prominently in newspapers and on television.
Opposition The main Malaysian opposition parties, which are the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Democratic Action Party (DAP) and the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), planned to deny the ruling coalition a two-thirds majority in Parliament in a bid to loosen the government's five-decade grip on power as reflected by their manifestos. The three parties highlighted Malaysia's rising crime rate, consumer-price inflation and government corruption throughout the election campaign. Civil Society groups unofficially merged five opposition parties under a banner called the Barisan Rakyat (People's Front) in which they agreed on certain policy matters, particularly two civil society documents: The People's Declaration, and The People's Voice; and agreed not to contest against each other in any seats. The five parties include DAP, PKR and PAS, as well as Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) and the United Pasok Nunukragang National Organisation (PASOK).
Part of the opposition campaign took place in cyberspace and new media, utilising new technologies such as blogs, SMS and YouTube. Major newspapers and television stations, which were partly owned by parties in the government coalition, only mention the opposition in passing. On 2 March, PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang challenged Abdullah Badawi to hold a televised debate similar to those held by US presidential candidates. However, government leaders stated there was no place for such debates in Malaysia, claiming the focus should be on debating with locals concerning local issues affecting them.
The Opposition had also increased focus on Abdullah Badawi's performance in the last few years and being a poor leader who sleeps on the job. They mentioned that as a result of his weak leadership, matters such as crime, corruption and racial and religious tensions have increased. On 4 March, campaigning in Malaysia's general election took on a personal tone as rivals slung accusations of nepotism, hypocrisy, boorish language and sexist tactics. It was also suggested Abdullah is grooming his son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin, as Malaysia's future leader.
In terms of raising funds, the Opposition appealed to the public through websites and blogs for supporters to contribute funds through credit cards and bank transfers to help them print campaign posters and hold public forums. The Opposition had repeatedly pointed out that they are unable to match the ruling coalition's massive spending power.
Uncontested wins On the nomination day, 24 February 2008, BN secured seven parliamentary seats and two state assembly seats uncontested. PAS also won a state seat after the BN nominee was found to have been declared bankrupt, although this was later disproved.
On 26 February 2008, independent contender Junak Jawek dropped out of the polls for the new Parliamentary seat of Igan. Wahab Dolah of BN was declared the winner. This brings the total number of uncontested wins by National Front to ten seats as of 27 February 2008: eight parliamentary and two state seats.
Some PKR candidates have alleged fraud, claiming they received offers from BN not to contest. Rahamat Idil Latip, the PKR candidate for the Parliamentary seat of Santubong, claimed he was told he would receive RM300,000 if he withdrew his nomination. After jokingly asking for RM3 million, he was told that it would be considered.
Pensiangan One of the parliamentary seats won unopposed by BN was in P.182 Pensiangan (Sabah), which was won by Joseph Kurup of Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS). The two candidates who were supposed to contest in this seat were Danny Anthony Andipai (PKR) and Saineh (independent). Both were disqualified after submitting their nomination forms after 10:00 am.
It was alleged by both rejected candidates that they were blocked from going to the nomination centre, resulting in both candidates submitting their candidacies late, at 10:25 am and 10:30 am, respectively. During the one-hour objection period from 11:00 am, Kurup raised objections to the late submissions and they were accepted by the returning officer; he then disqualified the two candidates from contesting. Police reports were later lodged on the matter in Keningau. Joseph Kurup, on the other hand, claimed he was punched after being declared winner of the seat; he also lodged a police report on this matter.
On 8 September 2008, Kota Kinabalu High Court judge Justice David Wong Dak Wah declared that the Pensiangan parliamentary seat which was won uncontested by Kurup invalid and Kurup's seat be left vacant, paving the way for a possible by-election for this constituency. Recent amendments to the election laws, however, allow Kurup to appeal the decision at the Federal Court. The petition was filed by Andipai, and had named Kurup, returning officer Bubudan OT Majalu, and the Election Commission as respondents.