Malaysia Decides 2008

Last Updated: 8 March 2008

The many flags and posters of Malaysia's political parties cover the landscape leading up to polling day. [Reuters]

The many flags and posters of Malaysia's political parties cover the landscape leading up to polling day. [Reuters]

Malaysia's political landscape has seen its biggest shift in decades, with voters giving opposition parties power in five of the country's 13 states.

Malaysia's ruling Barisan Nasional coalition and its prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, went into the March 8, 2008, national elections hoping to counter a resurgent opposition. Voters in Chinese and Indian minority groups were expected to hold the key to the election due to growing discontent over decades-old policies that disadvantage non-Malays.

Just hours after the polls closed it was clear that opposition parties had pulled-off an historic election performance. Under a loose alliance, opposition parties had gained more than 80 seats of the 222 seats in the national parliament - up from its 2004 effort of only 20 - and erased the incumbent's two-thirds majority.

The coalition government of Prime Minister Abdullah will stay in office, but for the first time since independence in 1957 there will be a sizeable opposition in parliament.

Malaysia goes to the polls

Malaysia's opposition parties pulled-off an historic election performance, posing the first challenge to the ruling government in five decades.

The embattled Barisan Nasional

Prime Minister Abdullah has faced calls for his resignation after the unprecedented losses in the polls which deprived the government of its two-thirds majority in parliament, but the ruling party has nonetheless given its leader its "full support" to stay on as leader.

The resurgent opposition

Opposition parties took control of five of Malaysia's 13 state assemblies in the elections, giving them a range of powers over issues such as land and water.