Can the resurgent BN steer a middle course?

[superadmin]

Obviously, few had predicted a landslide victory for Barisan Nasional at the Melaka elections, although many had thought it might obtain a simple majority in the state assembly.

Some online commenters say that the Melaka scenario will not be the same at the national level when a general election is called.

BN secured an impressive win despite only managing 38% of the popular votes, while Pakatan Harapan managed nearly 36% but only won five seats. Perikatan Nasional, on the other hand, won only two seats but amassed 25% of the votes cast.

Obviously BN’s two-thirds majority with 21 seats with that percentage of votes comes off as a bit odd, but such is the reality of the distribution of votes in Malaysian constituencies where the population of one seat sometimes totals three others in the same state. It’s very lopsided and that is why BN won that many seats with 38% of the votes.


PN and PH obtained 61% of the votes but only won seven seats combined. This does not reflect the actual democracy that we speak about but as we follow the Westminster system, the “first past the post” rule decides who governs.

In Malaysian politics, we have parties with lower popular votes winning general elections. So all the excuses of this snag or other, or a poor turnout, will not change things much. The truth is the voters are split three ways now. It is very unlikely that those who voted for PN will vote for PH now.

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