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How Malaysia Voted in 2018 19

which the share of voters from a particular ethnicity exceeded 50 per cent. In
mixed districts, no ethnic group constitutes a majority. In the wake of GE13,
up to 51 districts were considered marginal BN districts, i.e. those won with
less than a 5 per cent popular-vote margin. Of these, 30 were Malay-majority
constituencies, situated mostly on the west coast of the peninsula. A further 20
districts were marginal districts for the opposition, which then also included
PAS. ese districts were scattered in the peninsula’s north (mostly in Kedah)
and east (largely Terengganu and parts of Kelantan). On Borneo (the states
of Sabah and Sarawak), a number of then-BN-held districts were considered
marginal, mostly in the non-Muslim Kadazan Dusun Murut (KDM) areas in
the western interior of the state, along the Crocker Range.

Table 2.1 Type of parliamentary district by voters’ ethnic background
and status
Seat status after 2013 Malay Chinese Mixed Bumiputera Total
general election majority majority
BN safe seat 53 0 4 25 82
BN marginal 30 0 9 12 51
PR marginal 20 4 5 0 29
PR safe seat 16 25 18 1 60
Total 119 29 36 38 222

e results of GE13 showed that despite further erosion of BN’s popular
vote from 2008, the coalition managed to hold on to its share of the Malay
electorate, at the expense of losing further support from non-Malays. Based
on this outcome, the next redistricting exercise altered the boundaries of
state and parliamentary constituencies so as to give the ruling party a more
advantageous position (see Wong, this volume). Because BN lacked the
2
supermajority in parliament needed to change the number of parliamentary
districts, these amendments were con ned to changing the boundaries of
existing constituencies. Upon analysis it was quite obvious that the redistricting
3
process resulted in the consolidation of opposition voters (largely non-Malay)
in fewer districts, while increasing the number of pro-BN districts by swapping
Malay localities into previously marginal districts. is reshu ing resulted in
acute changes in seat-composition by ethnicity in states and territories such
as Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, and Malacca. In addition, a similar exercise was
carried out in Terengganu, where the then-BN government controlled the
state by a slim two-seat majority. ere, boundary changes disadvantaged PAS

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