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Political parties were reported to have begun preparations for the polls as early as January 2008. As in 2004, the incumbent Barisan Nasional (BN) 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 Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) contested the election. As with all preceding general elections following independence, the parliamentary election was won by BN, but yielded one of the worst results in the coalition's history. Opposition parties had won 82 seats (out of 222 seats in parliament) or 36.9% of parliamentary seats, while BN only managing to secure the remaining 140 seats or 63.1%. It marked also 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, 5 of 13 state legislatures were won by the opposition, compared with only one in the last election. |
