Malaysia's general election in October 1990 was of special significance. This was the first time since independence that a credible multi-ethnic coalition had emerged to challenge the ruling coalition that had been in power for thirty-three years. The election campaign turned into a "no-holds-barred" struggle, where ethnic and religious issues were thrown into the fray - with serious implications for the process of nation-building. The paper discusses the events and issues leading to the elections, the political parties involved, the alignments they made, the strategies and tactics that were deployed, and the manifestos and issues that were raised in the campaign. The author gives an analysis of the results and suggests that the Barisan Nasional's return to power is not unqualified, given the setbacks to the ethnic and federal-state relations in the course of the elections.

This book explains why the opposition party, Democratic Action Party (DAP), won several seats in the urban areas and why the Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) failed dismally in the Malaysian general election of 1986. It also discusses the performance of the various political parties in the election, the issues influencing the electorate, the significance of the revision of the electoral boundaries, and the influence of the mass media.

Malaysia's 2018 election (GE14) brought down a ruling party in power since independence in 1957. This book tells the full story of this historic election, combining a sharp analysis of the voting data with consideration of the key issues, campaign strategies, and mobilization efforts that played out during the election period in April and May 2018. This analysis is then used to bring fresh perspectives to bear on the core debates about Malaysian political ideas, identities and behaviours, debates that continue to shape the country's destiny. However optimistic many Malaysians may be for the possibility of a more representative, accountable, participatory, and equitable polity, the authors do not see GE14 as a clear harbinger of full-on liberalization in Malaysia. While the political aftermath of the election continues to play out, the authors provide a clarion call for deeper, more critical, more comparative research on Malaysia's politics. They complicate well-known angles on and elevate too-little-studied dimensions of Malaysian politics, and suggest agendas for empirically interesting, theoretically relevant further research. They also point to the broader insights Malaysia's experience provides for the study of elections and political change in one-party dominant states around the world.

The 2018 Malaysian General Election will stand as a major defining event in Malaysian history, when the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition unexpectedly lost power in the country they had ruled for over half a century. This volume brings together scholars who assess one fundamental factor that brought about this game-changing event in Malaysian politics: intra-elite feuding in the leading Malay-based political parties. This study provides an analysis of individual state politics as well as national trends shaped by the actions of leaders in government and the opposition. An indispensable guide for scholars studying the politics of Malaysia and of Southeast Asia more broadly, it will be of great interest for all readers with an interest in Malaysian politics.

Analyses discourses pertinent to democratic politics in Malaysia, including the political elite's interpretation of 'Asian values' and 'Asian democracy', contending Islamic views on democracy, the impact of developmentalism on political culture, and the recovery of women's voice in everyday politics.

This book is an innovative analysis of regime maintenance and transformation in Malaysia. It goes beyond familiar approaches centred on communal politics, or the corporate workings of Malaysia Inc., to stress the importance of power maintenance - tracing a path from consociational bargaining to authoritarian UMNO dominance, to Dr Mahathir's personal dominance. The author has synthesized a diverse range of sources, and in particular made insightful use of interviews with nearly all the key actors. The analysis is up-to-date, including the dramatic challenge to Dr Mahathir's dominance associated with his sacking of deputy Anwar Ibrahim following the Asian economic crisis.

This book contains five electoral essays and five discourses which explore issues impacting on free, fair and credible election organisation and conduct, with special attention on best practices in the Commonwealth and the African Union. The essays constitute part 1 and the discourses part 2 of the book. It describes and analyses the slow and cautious restart of the process of democratic elections in Nigeria, examining the missteps along the way from the first to the fourth electoral cycle which ended in 2011, which constitute essay I. Essay II deals with the development of election observation, together with mechanisms to strengthen the effectiveness thereof in the African Union and promote the technical capabilities of African Union electoral management bodies. Essay III seeks to compare aspects of election observation by the Commonwealth and the African Union. Essay IV examines best electoral practices in the Commonwealth and the African Union and essay V with the potential use of alternative dispute resolution in elections in the Commonwealth and the African Union. The discourses vigorously explore current electoral issues that slant towards further development in the near future. Discourse A is about youth and elections. It discusses how youth can participate more effectively in elections. Discourse B looks at the dimensions of political finance with particular attention to campaign financing. Discourse C is about incumbency and elections and discusses the nature and impact of incumbency on elections. Discourse D is about the culture of impunity which affects many electoral management bodies and in particular as it pertains to election violence. Discourse E deals with the impact of social media on election preparation and conduct.