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Cross-ethnic Vote-pooling in West Malaysia 69

voters, winning at least 60 per cent of the popular vote in all but four of
them. Hence it is clear that MCA candidates received substantial support
from both Malay and non-Malay voters, bene ting from voters’ goodwill
towards Abdullah Badawi.
DAP, on the other hand, was far less successful in the 2004 general
elections. DAP was contesting separately from Keadilan and PAS, and even
contested against Keadilan in four seats. DAP won only 11 out of the 36
parliamentary seats it contested in West Malaysia (Table 4.6). It was only 100
per cent successful in the ve seats with less than 10 per cent Malay voters.
DAP even lost two of the eight seats it contested with between 10 and 20 per
cent Malay voters.

Table 4.6 Ethnic distribution of DAP electoral support in relation to the
Malay electorate in Peninsular Malaysia (2004)
Malay Voter support for DAP (%) Total Total
voters <20 20–39.9 40–49.9 50–59.9 60–79.9 80–99.9 seats seats
(%) contested won
0–9.9 3 2 5 5
10–19.9 2 2 4 8 6
20–29.9 2 2 4 0
30–39.9 10 2 12 0
40–49.9 5 5 0
50–59.9 2 2 0
Total 2 19 6 7 2 36 11

Table 4.7 calculates the average vote MCA obtained in one-on-one contests
against DAP, Keadilan, or PAS. ( e number of seats each pair contested is in
parentheses.)
In contests between MCA and DAP, MCA’s vote share increased in direct
proportion to the share of Malay voters (Table 4.7). In other words, when
given the choice between DAP and MCA candidates, Malay voters were likely
to vote for the latter, a case of cross-ethnic vote-pooling due to MCA’s being
part of BN.
Interestingly, this trend was reversed when MCA candidates faced o with
the Malay-led multiethnic Keadilan as the opponent (also Table 4.7). MCA’s
vote share decreased as the proportion of Malay voters increased, which may
indicate that more Malay voters preferred a Keadilan candidate to MCA than
preferred a DAP candidate to MCA. Nonetheless, MCA candidates prevailed
over Keadilan counterparts in all 12 such seats.

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