electionstracker

Malaysia 1982 general election

What was the result of the 1982 general election in Malaysia?

United Malays National Organisation won 70 of 154 seats with 31.8% of the vote. 74.4% 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 70 of 154 seats with 31.8% of the vote; 74.4% of registered voters cast a ballot, down 0.9 points on 1978.

  • United Malays National Organisation 70 +1 seat 31.8% +0.4 points
  • Democratic Action Party 9 −7 seats 19.6% +0.4 points
  • Malaysian Chinese Association 24 +7 seats 16.3% +3.3 points
  • Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party 5 0 seats 14.5% −1.0 points
  • Malaysian People's Movement Party 5 +1 seat 3.5% +0.7 points
  • Sarawak United Peoples' Party 5 −1 seat 2.0% +0.1 points
  • Sabah People's United Front 10 +2 seats 2.0% +0.2 points
  • Malaysian Indian Congress 4 +1 seat 1.9% 0.0 points
  • Sarawak National Party 6 −3 seats 1.0% −0.3 points
  • Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu Sarawak 8 0 seats 0.7% −0.8 points
  • 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 1978 general election, party by party.

78 of 154 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 31.8%

    Share of the vote won by United Malays National Organisation

    United Malays National Organisation won 70 of 154 seats. A majority needs 78.

  2. +7 seats

    Seats gained by Malaysian Chinese Association

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1978. Democratic Action Party lost 7 seats.

  3. 74.4%

    Voter turnout

    Down 0.9 points on 1978.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
United Malays National Organisation70+131.8+0.41,323,937
Democratic Action Party9−719.6+0.4815,473
Malaysian Chinese Association24+716.3+3.3678,206
Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party5014.5−1.0602,530
Independents8+53.8−1.3157,229
Malaysian People's Movement Party5+13.5+0.7146,654
Sarawak United Peoples' Party5−12.0+0.181,993
Sabah People's United Front10+22.0+0.281,963
Malaysian Indian Congress4+11.90.079,825
Sarawak National Party6−31.0−0.341,295
Malaysian People's Socialist Party000.9+0.338,800
United Sabah National Organisation0−50.7−0.230,816
The other parties and groups
PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu Sarawak800.7−0.828,700
Malaysian Islamic Justice Party00.728,690
United Pasok Nunukragang National Organisation00.414,958
Sabah Chinese Consolidated Party00.311,600
Sarawak Natives Party000.0−1.01,415
Malaysian Social Justice Party000.0−0.7619
Social Democratic Party000.0−0.4464
United Social Gathering Party000.0−0.2352
Sarawak People's Organisation0−10.0−0.3178

± is the change against the Malaysia 1978 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • United Malays National Organisation 1,323,937
  • Democratic Action Party 815,473
  • Malaysian Chinese Association 678,206
  • Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party 602,530
  • Independents 157,229
  • Malaysian People's Movement Party 146,654
  • Sarawak United Peoples' Party 81,993
  • Sabah People's United Front 81,963
  • Malaysian Indian Congress 79,825
  • Sarawak National Party 41,295
  • Malaysian People's Socialist Party 38,800
  • United Sabah National Organisation 30,816
  • Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu Sarawak 28,700
  • Malaysian Islamic Justice Party 28,690
  • United Pasok Nunukragang National Organisation 14,958
  • Sabah Chinese Consolidated Party 11,600
  • Sarawak Natives Party 1,415
  • Malaysian Social Justice Party 619
  • Social Democratic Party 464
  • United Social Gathering Party 352
  • Sarawak People's Organisation 178

Source: Malaysian Election Corpus (MECo) by Thevesh Thevananthan, which collects the Election Commission of Malaysia's reports of the 1982 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.

12 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.

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?

74.4% of the 5,775,307 registered voters cast a ballot (4,296,302 ballots), down 0.9 points on 1978. 4,165,697 of them were valid votes. The lowest turnout since 1969 in our data.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • United Malays National Organisation31.8% of votes45.5% of seats
  • Malaysian Chinese Association16.3% of votes15.6% of seats
  • Sabah People's United Front2.0% of votes6.5% of seats
  • Democratic Action Party19.6% of votes5.8% of seats
  • Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu Sarawak0.7% of votes5.2% of seats
  • Sarawak National Party1.0% of votes3.9% of seats
  • Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party14.5% of votes3.2% of seats
  • Malaysian People's Movement Party3.5% of votes3.2% of seats
  • Sarawak United Peoples' Party2.0% of votes3.2% of seats
  • Malaysian Indian Congress1.9% of votes2.6% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 16.7 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 5.2 by votes and 4.0 by seats; United Malays National Organisation led Democratic Action Party by 12.2 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of