1974 Malaysian general election


A general election was held between Saturday, 24 August and Saturday, 14 September 1974 for members of the 4th Parliament of Malaysia. Voting took place in all 154 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 360 state constituencies in 12 states of Malaysia on the same day. This is first and only election for Tun Abdul Razak as Prime Minister since was appointed to the position in 1970 and first general election the Barisan Nasional was new political alliance replacing Alliance Party with Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia and People's Progressive Party was part of Barisan Nasional.
Once Parliament had been dissolved on 31 July 1974, the Election Commission fixed 8 August 1974, as Nomination Day and 24 August 1974, as Polling Day.
Candidates were returned unopposed in 47 constituencies. The 1,060,871 electors from these constituencies therefore did not cast ballots. Another 88 Front members were later successful, thus enabling their alliance to gain an overwhelming majority in the House. This result was a victory for Barisan Nasional which won 135 of the 154 seats. Voter turnout was 75.1%.

Results

Dewan Rakyat

Results by state

State Assemblies

Opposition

After the election, Sarawak National Party became the largest opposition party in the Malaysian parliament and James Wong was appointed the opposition leader. After 2 months, he was detained under Internal Security Act. Datuk Seri Edmund Langgau Anak Saga from the SNAP party later succeeded him. James Wong was detained for almost two years before negotiation led by Datuk Amar Leo Moggie Anak Irok resulting in SNAP joining the Barisan Nasional.