electionstracker

Malaysia 1978 general election

What was the result of the 1978 general election in Malaysia?

United Malays National Organisation won 69 of 154 seats with 31.4% of the vote. 75.3% of registered voters cast a ballot.

  • Malaysia
  • Held:
  • Final result
  • Malaysian Election Corpus, read 8 November 2026

Which party won the most seats?

Results published by the Malaysian Election Corpus, read : United Malays National Organisation won 69 of 154 seats with 31.4% of the vote; 75.3% of registered voters cast a ballot, up 0.3 points on 1974.

  • United Malays National Organisation 69 +8 seats 31.4% +8.5 points
  • Democratic Action Party 16 +7 seats 19.1% +0.8 points
  • Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party 5 −9 seats 15.5% +8.5 points
  • Malaysian Chinese Association 17 −2 seats 13.0% −1.7 points
  • Malaysian People's Movement Party 4 −1 seat 2.8% −1.7 points
  • Malaysian Indian Congress 3 −1 seat 1.9% −0.3 points
  • Sarawak United Peoples' Party 6 −1 seat 1.8% −1.2 points
  • Sabah People's United Front 8 1.8%
  • Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu Sarawak 8 0 seats 1.5% −2.4 points
  • Sarawak National Party 9 0 seats 1.3% −4.2 points
  • United Sabah National Organisation 5 −8 seats 0.9% +0.6 points
  • Sarawak People's Organisation 1 0.3%
  • Seats won
  • Change on the previous election at the right
  • Share of the vote
  • Share at the previous election
  • Change in points at the right

Changes are against the Malaysia 1974 general election, party by party.

78 of 154 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 31.4%

    Share of the vote won by United Malays National Organisation

    United Malays National Organisation won 69 of 154 seats. A majority needs 78.

  2. +8 seats

    Seats gained by United Malays National Organisation

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1974. Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party lost 9 seats.

  3. 75.3%

    Voter turnout

    Up 0.3 points on 1974.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
United Malays National Organisation69+831.4+8.51,089,402
Democratic Action Party16+719.1+0.8664,433
Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party5−915.5+8.5537,720
Malaysian Chinese Association17−213.0−1.7451,307
Independents3+35.1−0.9177,264
Malaysian People's Movement Party4−12.8−1.798,217
Malaysian Indian Congress3−11.9−0.367,119
Sarawak United Peoples' Party6−11.8−1.264,099
Sabah People's United Front81.861,522
Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu Sarawak801.5−2.452,222
Sarawak National Party901.3−4.245,218
Sarawak Natives Party01.035,009
The other parties and groups
PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
United Sabah National Organisation5−80.9+0.632,703
Malaysian Social Justice Party0−10.7−4.423,792
Malaysian People's Socialist Party000.6−3.322,031
Social Democratic Party00.413,788
Sarawak People's Organisation10.310,150
People's Progressive Party0−10.3−1.99,204
United Social Gathering Party00.25,594
Homeland Consciousness Union00.14,491
Sarawak People's Party00.13,898
Malaysian Workers' Party00.01,731
Sabah Chinese Association0−30.00.01,305
Sarawak People's National Party00.0861
KITA (ballot label)000.0−0.3350

± is the change against the Malaysia 1974 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • United Malays National Organisation 1,089,402
  • Democratic Action Party 664,433
  • Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party 537,720
  • Malaysian Chinese Association 451,307
  • Independents 177,264
  • Malaysian People's Movement Party 98,217
  • Malaysian Indian Congress 67,119
  • Sarawak United Peoples' Party 64,099
  • Sabah People's United Front 61,522
  • Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu Sarawak 52,222
  • Sarawak National Party 45,218
  • Sarawak Natives Party 35,009
  • United Sabah National Organisation 32,703
  • Malaysian Social Justice Party 23,792
  • Malaysian People's Socialist Party 22,031
  • Social Democratic Party 13,788
  • Sarawak People's Organisation 10,150
  • People's Progressive Party 9,204
  • United Social Gathering Party 5,594
  • Homeland Consciousness Union 4,491
  • Sarawak People's Party 3,898
  • Malaysian Workers' Party 1,731
  • Sabah Chinese Association 1,305
  • Sarawak People's National Party 861
  • KITA (ballot label) 350

Source: Malaysian Election Corpus (MECo) by Thevesh Thevananthan, which collects the Election Commission of Malaysia's reports of the 1978 federal election, open data under CC0. Shown in our own layout: a party's votes and seats are added up by us from the candidates' rows, and the shares, the turnout, the change on the election before and the indices are worked out by us.

A party's votes are the votes of its candidates added up, and its seats are the constituencies where its candidate won. A share is a party's votes over all valid votes in the constituencies where a vote was held. Candidates who stood without a party are one row, Independents.

9 of the 154 seats were won without a vote, because only one candidate stood. They count as seats for the winner's party and add no votes.

About the data: The corpus names the candidates with the id of a party formed in 2011; we keep only their ballot label, KITA, and do not join them to the party of 2011.

The turnout counts the valid and the rejected votes over the voters on the roll in the constituencies where a vote was held. A constituency won without a vote is left out.

How many people voted?

75.3% of the 4,779,261 registered voters cast a ballot (3,596,629 ballots), up 0.3 points on 1974. 3,473,430 of them were valid votes. The highest turnout since 1964 in our data.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • United Malays National Organisation31.4% of votes44.8% of seats
  • Malaysian Chinese Association13.0% of votes11.0% of seats
  • Democratic Action Party19.1% of votes10.4% of seats
  • Sarawak National Party1.3% of votes5.8% of seats
  • Sabah People's United Front1.8% of votes5.2% of seats
  • Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu Sarawak1.5% of votes5.2% of seats
  • Sarawak United Peoples' Party1.8% of votes3.9% of seats
  • Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party15.5% of votes3.2% of seats
  • United Sabah National Organisation0.9% of votes3.2% of seats
  • Malaysian People's Movement Party2.8% of votes2.6% of seats
  • Malaysian Indian Congress1.9% of votes1.9% of seats
  • Sarawak People's Organisation0.3% of votes0.6% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 15.5 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); United Malays National Organisation led Democratic Action Party by 12.2 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of