2021 Malacca state election

2021 Malacca state election

20 November 2021
All 28 seats to the Malacca State Legislative Assembly 15 seats needed for a majority
Registered	495,195
Turnout	65.85%
Majority party Minority party Third party   BN Leader Sulaiman Md Ali Adly Zahari Mas Ermieyati Samsudin Party UMNO AMANAH BERSATU Alliance Barisan Nasional Pakatan Harapan Perikatan Nasional Leader since 9 March 2020 30 August 2017 18 November 2021 Leader's seat Lendu Bukit Katil Tanjung Bidara (Contested and lost) Last election 13 seats, 36.2% 13 seats, 42.5% 2 seats, 21.0% (under PH, GS and BN) Seats before 12 11 1 Seats won 21 5 2 Seat change 9 6 1 Popular vote 122,741 114,457 77,731 Percentage 38.39% 35.80% 24.31% Swing 2.19 pp 6.7 percentage point New
Results by constituency
Chief Minister before election Sulaiman Md Ali Barisan Nasional (UMNO) Elected Chief Minister Sulaiman Md Ali Barisan Nasional (UMNO)

The 2021 Malacca state election, formally the 15th Malacca state election, took place on 20 November 2021. This election was to elect 28 members of the 15th Malacca State Legislative Assembly. The previous assembly was dissolved on 4 October 2021.

The snap election of the state was called prematurely following a political crisis. It came after four members of the assembly (MLA) who had previously supported incumbent Chief Minister Sulaiman Md Ali announced the loss of confidence and withdrawal of their support for him on 4 October 2021. They are former Chief Minister, Member of the State Executive Council (EXCO), Sungai Udang MLA Idris Haron and Pantai Kundor MLA Nor Azman Hassan from BN, independent (IND) EXCO member, Pengkalan Batu MLA Norhizam Hassan Baktee as well as EXCO member, Telok Mas MLA Noor Effandi Ahmad from PN.

Malacca became the fourth state in Malaysia (since 2021) that did not hold a state election simultaneously with the general election after Sabah (1967–1999 and since 2020), Sarawak (since 1979), and Kelantan (March 1978). This is also the first election following Ismail Sabri Yaakob's appointment as Prime Minister on 21 August 2021 and also the first state election held in the Malay Peninsula since the fall of the Pakatan Harapan state and federal governments in 2020.

This election was unique because it featured two major coalition parties in the government, namely Barisan Nasional and Perikatan Nasional, competing against each other. BN, through UMNO, had announced that it would not cooperate with Perikatan Nasional, led by Parti Peribumi Bersatu Malaysia (BERSATU). Such competition between former coalition partners had previously only occurred in East Malaysia.

Barisan Nasional (BN) won a landslide victory in the state election, winning 21 seats in the legislature and a two-thirds majority. Pakatan Harapan (PH) suffered a major defeat, winning just 5 seats, with the People's Justice Party (PKR) losing all its contested seats. Perikatan Nasional (PN) won 2 seats.

Constituencies

Electoral map of Malacca, showing all 28 constituencies

Composition before dissolution

Government		Opposition
BN	PN	PH			IND
12	1	11			4
12	1	7	2	2
UMNO	BERSATU	DAP	AMANAH	PKR	IND

Electoral system

Elections in Malaysia are conducted at the federal and state levels. Federal elections elect members of the Dewan Rakyat, the lower house of Parliament, while state elections in each of the 13 states elect members of their respective state legislative assembly. As Malaysia follows the Westminster system of government, the head of government (Prime Minister at the federal level and the Menteri Besar/Chief Ministers at the state level) is the person who commands the confidence of the majority of members in the respective legislature – this is normally the leader of the party or coalition with the majority of seats in the legislature.

The Legislative Assembly consists of 28 members, known as Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs), that are elected for five-year terms. Each MLA is elected from a single-member constituencies using the first-past-the-post voting system; each constituency contains approximately an equal number of voters. If one party obtains a majority of seats, then that party is entitled to form the government, with its leader becoming the Chief Minister. In the event of a hung parliament, where no single party obtains the majority of seats, the government may still form through a coalition or a confidence and supply agreement with other parties. In practice, coalitions and alliances in Malaysia, and by extension, in Malacca, generally persist between elections, and member parties do not normally contest for the same seats.

Political parties

Coalition(s)			Other parties
Government		Opposition
Barisan Nasional (BN)	Perikatan Nasional (PN)	Pakatan Harapan (PH)	Malaysian Mighty Bumiputera Party (PUTRA) National Indian Muslim Alliance Party (IMAN)
United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC)	Malaysian United Indigenous Party (Bersatu) Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan)	Democratic Action Party (DAP) National Trust Party (Amanah) People's Justice Party (PKR)

Retiring incumbent

The following members of the 14th State Legislative Assembly retired.

No.	Federal Constituency	Departing MLA	Party	Date confirmed	First elected	Reason
N02	Tanjung Bidara	Md Rawi Mahmud	BN (UMNO)	10 October 2021	2013	Not seeking re-election
N01	Kuala Linggi	Ismail Othman	BN (UMNO)	4 November 2021	2008	No nomination by the party
N03	Ayer Limau	Amiruddin Yusop	BN (UMNO)
N05	Taboh Naning	Latipah Omar	BN (UMNO)
N10	Asahan	Abdul Ghafar Atan	BN (UMNO)		2004
N25	Rim	Ghazale Muhamad	BN (UMNO)		2008
N27	Merlimau	Roslan Ahmad	BN (UMNO)		2011
N28	Sungai Rambai	Hasan Abd Rahman	BN (UMNO)		2008
N24	Bemban	Wong Fort Pin	PH (DAP)	5 November 2021	2018
N08	Machap Jaya	Ginie Lim Siew Lin	PH (PKR)	6 November 2021
N23	Telok Mas	Noor Effandi Ahmad	IND	8 November 2021		Not seeking re-election

Timeline

Date	Event
5 October 2021	Dissolution of the Malacca State Legislative Assembly
17 October 2021	Issue of the Writ of Election
8 November 2021	Nomination day
8–20 November 2021	Campaigning period
16–19 November 2021	Early voting for postal, overseas and advance voters
20 November 2021	Polling day

Pre-nomination events

Date	Event
4 October 2021	Four Malacca assemblymen declared that they have lost confidence in Chief Minister Sulaiman Md Ali's leadership. The assemblymen are former Malacca Chief Minister Idris Haron, Nor Azman Hassan, Norhizam Hassan Baktee and Noor Effandi Ahmad. Idris said the move was due to a series of decisions not implemented by the state government, which he added portrayed Malacca as a 'flip flop' state.
	The membership of Idris Haron and Nor Azman Hassan in UMNO was automatically dropped after being involved in the movement to overthrow the existing Malacca State Government.
5 October 2021	Malacca Assembly speaker disclosed that Malacca Chief Minister, Sulaiman Md Ali, took steps to dissolve the State Legislative Assembly starting 4 October 2021, in an effort to resolve the political crisis in the state. The dissolution of the state assembly was made after Sulaiman lost the majority of support, following the actions of four state assemblymen from the government bloc, withdrawing support for his leadership yesterday. The decision to dissolve the state assembly was made after the proposal submitted by Sulaiman received the approval of the Yang di-Pertua Negeri, Mohd Ali Rustam.
	Malacca PN chief Rafiq Naizmohideen announced immediate loss of Noor Effandi Ahmad's membership in BERSATU. The declaration was made due to his apparent cooperation with PH by being together with PH in a previous press conference on 4 October.
10 October 2021	Tanjung Bidara State Assemblyman Md Rawi Mahmud announces that he will not defend his constituency in the upcoming election.
18 October 2021	The Malaysian Election Commission sets 8 November as the nomination day and 20 November as the polling day; this provides for a minimum campaigning period of 12 days.
2 November 2021	A former member of the navy, Mohan Singh Booda Singh has announced his intention to contest as an Independent for the Gadek state constituency.
5 November 2021	Democratic Action Party (DAP), a component party of the PH, names its candidates for 8 of the state constituencies in Malacca, namely Gadek, Pengkalan Batu, Ayer Keroh, Kesidang, Kota Laksamana, Duyong, Bandar Hilir, and Bemban.
6 November 2021	Barisan Nasional (BN) states that it will be contesting in all of the state constituencies in Malacca, and announces its candidates for the 28 seats.
	Malaysia Mighty Bumiputera Party (PUTRA) announces its candidates for 5 of the state constituencies.
	National Indian Muslim Alliance Party (IMAN) announces its sole electoral candidate, who will contest the Machap Jaya state constituency.
	Pakatan Harapan (PH) states that it will be contesting in all of the state constituencies in Malacca, and announces its candidates for the 20 seats.
	Perikatan Nasional (PN) states that it will be contesting in all of the state constituencies in Malacca, and announces its candidates for the 28 seats.
7 November 2021	Pengkalan Batu MLA Norhizam Hassan Baktee announces that he will retain his seat as an independent candidate.

Electoral candidates

No.	Parliamentary Constituency	No.	State constituency	Incumbent State Assemblyman	Political parties
					Barisan Nasional		Pakatan Harapan		Perikatan Nasional		Other parties/Independent
					Candidate Name	Party	Candidate Name	Party	Candidate Name	Party	Candidate Name	Party
P134	Masjid Tanah	N01	Kuala Linggi	Ismail Othman (BN)	Rosli Abdullah	UMNO	Julasapiah Kasim	AMANAH	Aziah Mohd Sa'ad	PAS	Kamisan Palil¹	IND
		N02	Tanjung Bidara	Md Rawi Mahmud (BN)	Ab Rauf Yusoh	UMNO	Zainal Hassan	PKR	Mas Ermieyati Samsudin	BERSATU	None
		N03	Ayer Limau	Amiruddin Yusop (BN)	Hameed Mytheen Kunju Basheer	UMNO	Mazenah Baharuddin	AMANAH	Noordina Abd Latif	BERSATU
		N04	Lendu	Sulaiman Md Ali (BN)	Sulaiman Md Ali	UMNO	Mohamad Asri Ibrahim	PKR	Abdullah Mahadi	BERSATU
		N05	Taboh Naning	Latipah Omar (BN)	Zulkiflee Mohd Zin	UMNO	Zairi Subuh	AMANAH	Abu Hashim Abdul Samad	PAS
P135	Alor Gajah	N06	Rembia	Muhammad Jailani Khamis (BN)	Muhammad Jailani Khamis	UMNO	Zamri Pakiri	PKR	Zamzuri Arifin	BERSATU	Murali Krishnan	IND
											Sabarudin Kudus¹	IND
		N07	Gadek	Saminathan Ganesan (PH)	Shanmugam Ptcyhay	MIC	Saminathan Ganesan	DAP	Mohd. Amir Fitri Muharram	BERSATU	Laila Norinda Maon	PUTRA
											Mohan Singh Booda Singh	IND
											Azafen Amin¹	IND
		N08	Machap Jaya	Ginie Lim Siew Lin (PH)	Ngwe Hee Sem	MCA	Law Bing Haw	PKR	Tai Siong Jiul	BERSATU	Abdul Aziz Osani Kasim	IMAN
											Azlan Daud¹	IND
		N09	Durian Tunggal	Mohd Sofi Abdul Wahab (PH)	Zahari Abdul Khalil	UMNO	Mohd Sofi Abdul Wahab	AMANAH	Ja'afar Othman	PAS	Mohd Erfan Mahrilar¹	IND
		N10	Asahan	Abdul Ghafar Atan (BN)	Fairul Nizam Roslan	UMNO	Idris Haron	PKR	Dhanesh Basil	GERAKAN	Mohd Noor Saleh	IND
											Azmar Ab Hamid	IND
											Mohd Akhir Ayob¹	IND
P136	Tangga Batu	N11	Sungai Udang	Idris Haron (IND)	Mohamad Ali Mohamad	UMNO	Hasmorni Tamby	PKR	Mohd Aleef Yusof	BERSATU	Mohd Zahar Hashim¹	IND
		N12	Pantai Kundor	Nor Azman Hassan (IND)	Tuminah Kadi @ Mohd Hasim	UMNO	Nor Azman Hassan	AMANAH	Mohamad Ridzwan Mustafa	BERSATU	None
		N13	Paya Rumput	Md Rafiq Naizamohideen (PN)	Rais Yasin	UMNO	Shamsul Iskandar Md. Akin	PKR	Muhammad Faris Izwan Mazlan	BERSATU	Muhammad Hashidi Mohd Zin	PUTRA
											Mohd Jaini Dimon¹	IND
		N14	Kelebang	Gue Teck (PH)	Lim Ban Hong	MCA	Gue Teck	PKR	Bakri Jamaluddin	PAS	None
P137	Hang Tuah Jaya	N15	Pengkalan Batu	Norhizam Hassan Baktee (IND)	Kalsom Noordin	UMNO	Muhamad Danish Zainudin	DAP	Mohd Azrudin Md Idris	BERSATU	Mohd Aluwi Sari	PUTRA
											Norhizam Hassan Baktee	IND
		N16	Ayer Keroh	Kerk Chee Yee (PH)	Yong Fun Juan	MCA	Kerk Chee Yee	DAP	Micheal Gan Peng Lam	GERAKAN	None
		N17	Bukit Katil	Adly Zahari (PH)	Hasnoor Sidang Husin	UMNO	Adly Zahari	AMANAH	Muhammad Al Afiz Yahya	PAS	Abdul Hamid Mustapah¹	IND
		N18	Ayer Molek	Rahmad Mariman (BN)	Rahmad Mariman	UMNO	Mohd Rafee Ibrahim	PKR	Mohd Fadly Samin	BERSATU	Ahmad Muaz Idris¹	IND
P138	Kota Melaka	N19	Kesidang	Allex Seah Shoo Chin (PH)	Leong Hui Ying	MCA	Allex Seah Shoo Chin	DAP	Patrick Ng Chin Kae	GERAKAN	None
		N20	Kota Laksamana	Low Chee Leong (PH)	Benjamin Low Chin Hong	MCA	Low Chee Leong	DAP	Fong Khai Ling	GERAKAN
		N21	Duyong	Damian Yeo Shen Li (PH)	Mohd Norhelmy Abdul Halem	UMNO	Damian Yeo Shen Li	DAP	Kamarudin Sedik	PAS	Mohd Faizal Hamzah	PUTRA
											Muhamad Hafiz Ishak¹	IND
											Gan Tian Soh	IND
		N22	Bandar Hilir	Tey Kok Kiew (PH)	Lee Kah Sean	MCA	Leng Chau Yen	DAP	Clarice Chan Ming Wang	GERAKAN	Mak Chee Kin	IND
		N23	Telok Mas	Noor Effandi Ahmad (IND)	Abdul Razak Abdul Rahman	UMNO	Asyraf Mukhlis Minghat	AMANAH	Md Rafiq Naizamohideen	BERSATU	Muhammad Ariff Adly Mohammad¹	IND
P139	Jasin	N24	Bemban	Wong Fort Pin (PH)	Koh Chin Han	MCA	Tey Kok Kiew	DAP	Mohd Yadzil Yaakub	BERSATU	Ng Choon Koon	IND
											Azmi Kamis	IND
		N25	Rim	Ghazale Muhamad (BN)	Khaidiriah Abu Zahar	UMNO	Prasanth Kumar Brakasam	PKR	Azalina Abdul Rahman	BERSATU	None
		N26	Serkam	Zaidi Attan (BN)	Zaidi Attan	UMNO	Mohd Khomeini Kamal	AMANAH	Ahmad Bilal Rahaudin	PAS	Norazlanshah Hazali¹	IND
		N27	Merlimau	Roslan Ahmad (BN)	Muhammad Akmal Saleh	UMNO	Azrin Ab Majid	AMANAH	Abd Alim Shapie	PAS	None
		N28	Sungai Rambai	Hasan Abd Rahman (BN)	Siti Faizah Abdul Aziz	UMNO	Farzana Hayani Mohd Nasir	PKR	Muhammad Jefri Safry	BERSATU	Nazatul Asyraf Md Dom	PUTRA

Note: ¹Independent candidates form 'Gagasan Bebas' informal Independent bloc and contested using the various symbols.

Results

For complete results, see Results of the 2021 Malacca state election.

Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats	/–
	Barisan Nasional		United Malays National Organisation	95,382	29.84	18	5
			Malaysian Chinese Association	24,337	7.61	2	2
			Malaysian Indian Congress	3,022	0.95	1	1
		Total		122,741	38.39	21	8
	Pakatan Harapan		Democratic Action Party	61,577	19.26	4	–4
			People's Justice Party	28,821	9.02	0	–3
			National Trust Party	24,059	7.53	1	–1
		Total		114,457	35.80	5	–8
	Perikatan Nasional		Malaysian United Indigenous Party	46,688	14.60	2	0
			Malaysian Islamic Party	22,252	6.96	0	0
			Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia	8,791	2.75	0	0
		Total		77,731	24.31	2	–8
	Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia			367	0.11	0	New
	National Indian Muslim Alliance Party			167	0.05	0	New
	Independents			4,226	1.32	0	0
Total				319,689	100.00	28	0
Valid votes				319,689	98.04
Invalid/blank votes				6,379	1.96
Total votes				326,068	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				495,196	65.85
Source: Dashboard SPR

↓ 

Barisan Nasional government (21)			Pakatan Harapan-led opposition (7)*
21			2	5
Barisan Nasional			Perikatan Nasional	Pakatan Harapan
18	2	1	2	1	4
UMNO	MCA	MIC	BERSATU	AMANAH	DAP
Malacca State Legislative Assembly, 20 November 2021 (28 seats)

By parliamentary constituency

Barisan Nasional won 4 of 6 parliamentary constituency, including Masjid Tanah and Alor Gajah, which is held by Perikatan Nasional and Tangga Batu, which is held by Pakatan Harapan.

No.	Constituency	Barisan Nasional	Pakatan Harapan	Perikatan Nasional	Member of Parliament
P134	Masjid Tanah	54.65%	15.43%	29.79%	Mas Ermieyati Samsudin
P135	Alor Gajah	45.29%	32.10%	20.63%
					Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof
P136	Tangga Batu	39.62%	27.26%	31.91%	Rusnah Aluai
P137	Hang Tuah Jaya	36.56%	39.00%	21.42%	Shamsul Iskandar Md. Akin
P138	Kota Melaka	25.10%	58.48%	15.40%	Khoo Poay Tiong
P139	Jasin	45.40%	20.96%	32.17%	Ahmad Hamzah

Seats that changed allegiance

No.	Seat	Previous Party (2018)			Current Party (2021)
N6	Rembia		Pakatan Harapan (PKR)		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)
N7	Gadek		Pakatan Harapan (DAP)		Barisan Nasional (MIC)
N8	Machap Jaya		Pakatan Harapan (PKR)		Barisan Nasional (MCA)
N9	Durian Tunggal		Pakatan Harapan (Amanah)		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)
N11	Sungai Udang		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Perikatan Nasional (Bersatu)
N13	Paya Rumput		Pakatan Harapan (Bersatu)		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)
N14	Kelebang		Pakatan Harapan (PKR)		Barisan Nasional (MCA)
N15	Pengkalan Batu		Pakatan Harapan (DAP)		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)
N21	Duyong		Pakatan Harapan (DAP)		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)
N23	Telok Mas		Pakatan Harapan (Bersatu)		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)
N24	Bemban		Pakatan Harapan (DAP)		Perikatan Nasional (Bersatu)

Election pendulum

2021 Malacca state election

GOVERNMENT SEATS Marginal Pengkalan Batu Kalsom Noordin UMNO 35.77 Kelebang Lim Ban Hong MCA 38.29 Duyong Mohd. Noor Helmy Abdul Halem UMNO 38.55 Gadek Shanmugam V. Pitchay MIC 39.26 Paya Rumput Rais Yasin UMNO 39.68 Pantai Kundor Tuminah Kadi @ Mohd Hashim UMNO 40.03 Rembia Muhammad Jailani Khamis UMNO 41.61 Telok Mas Abdul Razak Abdul Rahman UMNO 43.01 Serkam Zaidi Attan UMNO 43.32 Rim Khaidirah Abu Zahar UMNO 45.31 Machap Jaya Ngwe Hee Sem MCA 46.67 Sungai Rambai Siti Faizah Abd. Azis UMNO 48.08 Tanjung Bidara Ab. Rauf Yusoh UMNO 49.14 Kuala Linggi Rusli Abdullah UMNO 51.07 Ayer Molek Rahmad Mariman UMNO 51.07 Ayer Limau Hameed Mytheen Kunju Basheer UMNO 51.94 Fairly safe Taboh Naning Zulkiflee Mohd. Zin UMNO 57.23 Merlimau Dr. Muhamad Akmal Salleh UMNO 58.43 Safe Lendu Sulaiman Md. Ali UMNO 63.87 Asahan Fairul Nizam Roslan UMNO 65.77 NON-GOVERNMENT SEATS Marginal Bemban Dr. Mohd Yadzil Yaakub BERSATU 34.60 Bukit Katil Adly Zahari AMANAH 41.55 Sungai Udang Dr. Mohd. Aleef Yusof BERSATU 43.65 Fairly safe Ayer Keroh Kerk Chee Yee DAP 59.97 Safe Kesidang Allex Seah Shoo Chin DAP 65.86 Kota Laksamana Dr. Low Chee Leong DAP 80.83 Bandar Hilir Leng Chau Yen DAP 81.19

Aftermath

Sulaiman were sworn in as Chief Minister of Malacca for the second time, on the morning of 21 November, a day after the election. He holds the role until 30 March 2023, when he tendered his resignation letter to the Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Malacca. He was replaced by Ab Rauf Yusoh, MLA for Tanjung Bidara and the UMNO state leader of Malacca, who was sworn in on 31 March 2023. Six days after Ab Rauf's appointment, a minor EXCO reshuffle took place on 5 April, where 2 EXCO members were dropped and 3 EXCO members were added, including one Pakatan Harapan MLA, in a swearing in ceremony. The new EXCO lineup is to reflect the government pact between PH and BN after the general election in November 2022. In response to Rauf's appointment, Muhammad Jailani Khamis, one of the EXCO members dropped in the reshuffle announced his withdrawal of support to the Rauf-led state government, although he is not resigning from UMNO and requested to the party's disciplinary board to decide on his status. He later were suspended of his UMNO membership by the party's disciplinary board for 6 years after spotted attending PN's by-election campaign in Simpang Jeram and Pulai. This made Jailani quit the party and joined PAS in June 2023, but were only announced by PAS secretary general one year later in July 2024.

See also

• Politics of Malaysia
• List of political parties in Malaysia

References

• Urusan Pilihan Raya Umum Dewan Undangan Negeri (PRU DUN) Melaka Yang Ke-15