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,[1] 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.[2] 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
^Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p152 ISBN 0-19-924959-8
^Arkib Negara: Pembentukan Kabinet Yang Pertama Selepas Merdeka[permanent dead link] (in Malay)
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