Over 11 million people cast their vote in the recent Malaysian General Election, compared to around 8 million in the 2008 election. The voter turnout was just under 85% of registered voters, the highest ever recorded.
Barisan Nasional, the ruling coalition, won 133 of the 222 Parliamentary seats, a reduction of seven from their 2008 performance. The Malaysian Chinese Association, which is part of the ruling coalition, saw the biggest loss of seats, falling by over 50% from 15 in seats in the last election to just seven this time. The opposition lost one state, Kedah, from the ones they controlled before the election. The government does seem to be responding to some of the concerns raised by people who supported the opposition. Nearly half of the newly appointed Cabinet are first-timers and include people from outside the government. The former CEO of Maybank, Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar, and the head of Malaysia’s Transparency International chapter, Paul Low, both become Ministers in the Prime Minister’s Department. Conspicuously absent are any members of the Malaysian Chinese party, which refused any positions because of their poor showing in the election.
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