Malaysian general election, 1964

Malaysian general election, 1964

25 April 1964
104 (of the 159) seats to the Dewan Rakyat 53 seats needed for a majority
Registered	2,681,895
Turnout	2,146,608 (78.9%)
First party Second party Third party   130x130px Leader Tunku Abdul Rahman Burhanuddin al-Helmy Party Alliance Socialist Front PAS Leader since 23 August 1951 21 March 1964 1956 Leader's seat Kuala Kedah Batu No seat Last election 74 seats, 51.8% 8 seats, 12.9% 13 seats, 21.3% Seats won 89 2 9 Seat change 15 6 4 Popular vote 1,204,340 330,898 301,187 Percentage 58.5% 16.1% 14.6% Swing 6.7% 3.2% 6.7%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   UDP PPP Leader Lim Chong Eu D. R. Seenivasagam Lee Kuan Yew Party United Democratic Party People's Progressive Party PAP Leader since 1962 10 April 1953 21 November 1954 Leader's seat Tanjong Ipoh No seat Last election New Party 4 seats, 6.3% New Party Seats won 1 2 1 Seat change 2 Popular vote 88,223 69,898 42,130 Percentage 4.3% 3.4% 2.0%   Seventh party   Leader Onn Jaafar Party National Party Leader since 10 May 1946 Leader's seat No seat Last election 1 seat, 2.1% Seats won No seats Seat change 1 Popular vote 7,319 Percentage 0.4% Swing 1.7%
300px
Prime Minister before election Tunku Abdul Rahman Alliance Prime Minister-designate Tunku Abdul Rahman Alliance

A general election was held on Saturday, 25 April 1964 for members of the 2nd Parliament of Malaysia. Voting took place in 104 out of 159 parliamentary constituencies of Malaysia, each electing one Member of Parliament to the Dewan Rakyat, the dominant house of Parliament.. State elections also took place in 282 state constituencies in 11 (out of 14, except Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore) states of Malaysia on the same day.

The result was a victory for the Alliance Party, which won 89 of the 104 seats. Voter turnout was 78.9%. The result also contributed towards the eventual expulsion of Singapore from Malaysia. The Singaporean-based People's Action Party decided to run on the mainland, and although it attracted large crowds at its rallies, it won only one seat — that by Devan Nair, who represented the Bungsar constituency (now part of Seputeh and Lembah Pantai constituencies). It is thought by some historians that Finance Minister and MCA President Tan Siew Sin's appeal to the Chinese to avoid challenging the Malay special rights and risk merger with Indonesia helped the MCA retain its status as the "undisputed leader of the Chinese in the Malayan peninsula". Nevertheless, UMNO leaders were furious with the PAP.

Although it was the first parliamentary general election held after the formation of Malaysia in 1963, the election was not held in Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak. Transitional provisions allowed the state legislatures of the three states to choose their parliamentary representatives until the next election. The three states have been allocated a total of 55 seats in the Malaysian Parliament: 15 seats for Singapore, 16 seats for Sabah and 24 seats for Sarawak. Together, the three states held 34% out the 159 seats in the parliament. This was intended to act as a check to prevent parliament from passing constitutional amendments (which require a two-thirds majority) without the agreement of representatives from the three new states. After Singapore left Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak were only left with 25% of the seats, as a consequence Sabah and Sarawak were not able to stop the parliament from approving laws that would encroach on the special rights granted to Sabah and Sarawak upon merger to form Malaysia.

Results

Parliamentary results

Political Party				Votes	% of vote	Seats	% of seats	+/–
	Alliance Party		Alliance	1,204,340	58.5	89	85.6	+15
		United Malays National Organisation	UMNO		38.1	59	56.7	+7
		Malayan Chinese Association	MCA		18.7	27	26.0	+8
		Malayan Indian Congress	MIC		1.6	3	2.9	0
	Malayan Peoples' Socialist Front		SF	330,898	16.1	2	1.9	-6
		Labour Party of Malaya	Lab			2	1.9	-4
		Parti Ra'ayat	Ra'ayat			0	0.0	-2
	Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party		PAS	301,187	14.6	9	8.7	-4
	United Democratic Party		UDP	88,223	4.3	1	1.0	New
	People's Progressive Party		PPP	69,898	3.4	2	1.9	-2
	People's Action Party		PAP	42,130	2.0	1	1.0	New
	National Party		Negara	7,319	0.4	0	0.0	-1
	Independents		IND	13,509	0.7	0	0.0	-3
Valid votes				2,057,504
Invalid/blank votes				89,104
Total (turnout: 78.9%)				2,146,608	100.0	104	100.0	0
Did not vote				535,287
Registered voters				2,681,895
Source: Nohlen et al. [1][2][3] Two Alliance candidates won uncontested.