The Melaka State Election was a Non-Event, But……….

Murray Hunter
Nov 15


The Melaka State Election was a Non-Event, But……….






The Melaka State Election in terms of the overall balance of power was a non-event with Barisan Nasional and the DAP maintaining the same numbers in the new state assembly. Amanah lost its only seat and PAS was able to pick up a second seat in the state assembly.

The new state assembly will have 21 Barisan Nasional members (18 UMNO, 2 MCA, 1 MIC), three PN members (2 PAS plus 1 from Parti Wawasan Negara). The DAP managed to hold onto the 4 seats it had in the old state assembly. In terms of Melakan politics the result is basically the same, where UMNO has already declared that Ab Rauf Bin Yusoh will remain on as Menteri Besar, thus maintaining a continuation of the executive government.

PKR didn’t win any of the 10 seats it contested, repeating the same result it achieved in 2021, when it lost two seats. It was questionable why PKR actually wanted to contest the latest election, with its current low popularity in Melaka. Amanah lost the Bukit Katil seat held by the PH Melaka Chairman Adly Zahari, taking them another step towards extinction. Perhaps the best result for PH was that the DAP was easily able to hold onto its 4 seats in Melaka with all the criticism leveled at the party leadership over the Najib Razak home detention.

The win in Melaka continues on the BN momentum from both Johor and Negeri Sembilan. In this election, the UMNO leadership was able to build-up support for the current leadership. Where Melaka Wanita Umno chief Kalsom Noordin, state MIC chief VP Shanmugam and former executive councillor Rahmad Mariman have disappeared.

For the DAP, even though the party won with slightly lower margins, the result reduces any pressure on the current leadership. We may see Anthony Loke remain as Transport Minister in the federal government after this result.

The Melaka state election firmly shows that the electoral strength of Bersatu is quickly coming to an end. As with what occurred in Sabah, Johor and Negeri Sembilan state elections, the party once again failed to win a single seat. One could speculate that Bersatu seats in the coming federal election could be very vulnerable. Bersatu appears, along with Amanah to have come to the end of their political shelf lives and will disappear after the coming general election.

The biggest loser of the day was Rafizi Ramli’s Party Bersama Malaysia. Bersama lost all of the 16 seats it contested in Melaka. With the exception of Bemban (Bersama received 4,140 votes), the results were dismal. Such a result nationally would see Bersama being totally ineffective as a third force.

Moving on from Melaka, where any more in-depth analysis is only academic, the political atmosphere appears that it may be possible for UMNO to withdraw from the federal coalition to force an immediate election, perhaps on the same day as Sarawak, December 12. We will have to watch Zahid’s movements over the next few days.

If any early federal election occurred next month, the electoral agreement that PH made with Bersatu would be useless. Any PH-Bersatu combination is not going to win the votes of the Malay electoral cohorts in the north and east coast.

There was really nothing surprising about what happened in the Melaka State Election. Its what is going to happen over the next week or so that might bring any surprises.