Sarawak state election, 2006

Sarawak state election, 2006

20 May 2006
All 71 seats in the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly 36 seats needed for a majority
Registered	892,537
Turnout	552,350 (61.89%)
Majority party Minority party Third party   DAP SNAP Leader Abdul Taib Mahmud Wong Ho Leng Edwin Dundang Bugak Party BN DAP SNAP Leader since 26 March 1981 (1981-03-26) 12 February 2001 18 May 2003 (2003-05-18) Leader's seat Balingian Bukit Assek Bukit Saban (lost) Last election 60 seats, 71.2% 1 seat, 8.4% 6 seats, 5.5% (part of Barisan Nasional) Seats before 60 1 6 Seats won 62 6 1 Seat change 2 5 5 Popular vote 341,587 82,134 51,459 Percentage 61.8% 14.9% 9.3% Swing 9.4% 6.5% 3.8%
Chief Minister before election Abdul Taib Mahmud BN Subsequent chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud BN

The ninth Sarawak state election was held on Saturday, 20 May 2006 with nomination day on Tuesday, 9 May 2006. The election functioned to elect 71 representatives to the Sarawak State Assembly (Dewan Undangan Negeri in Malay). The eighth state assembly was dissolved by Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sarawak, Tun Abang Muhammad Salahuddin Abang Barieng by the advice of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, on 24 April 2006.

On nomination day, Barisan Nasional won two seats without contest.

This election saw 892,537 voters eligible to cast their ballots.^[1]

The previous state election was held in 2001, when the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) won 60 out of 62 seats in the eighth state assembly. The Democratic Action Party won one, while another went to an independent candidate. The eighth state assembly's mandate would expire on 18 November 2006, necessitating the calling of an election beforehand.^[2]

Barisan Nasional fielded candidates for all 71 seats:

• 35 seats by United Traditional Bumiputera Party (PBB)
• 19 seats by Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP)
• 9 seats by Sarawak Peoples Party (PRS)
• 8 seats by Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP)

A total of 28 seats was contested by Sarawak National Party (SNAP), followed by People's Justice Party (PKR) (25 seats), Democratic Action Party (DAP) (12 seats), and Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (1 seat). There were 20 independents contesting for 16 seats.^[3]

The opposition parties

People's Justice Party (PKR), Sarawak National Party (SNAP) and Malaysian Dayak Congress (MDC) teamed up to form the Sarawak United Front (Malay: Barisan Bersatu Sarawak). MDC, being one of the two parties split from the deregistered Sarawak Dayak People's Party, was newly formed and awaiting for registration approval. So they have to contest under the SNAP ticket.

Although Democratic Action Party and Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party did not join the coalition, they managed to negotiate with the coalition over the contesting of seats so that they could challenge BN one-to-one. Another Sarawak local opposition party, the State Reform Party (STAR), failed the negotiation and decided not to contest in the election.

Results

List of state assemblymen

¹Johnichal Rayong, who won the N28 Engkilili seat on SNAP ticket, joined SUPP in December 2010, contributed another seat for BN.^[4]

²Dublin Unting, the state assemblyman for N29 Batang Ai, died at the Normah Medical Specialist Centre, Kuching on 24 February 2009 after a coma.^[5] This resulted in the necessity to call for a by-election. Malcolm Mussen Lamoh later successfully defended the seat for Barisan Nasional.

³Gabriel Adit Demong previously an independent for N43 Ngemah constituency joined PKR in November 2008.^[6] He later quit PKR and joined Parti Cinta Malaysia in December 2009.^[7]

⁴Larry Sng, who won the N54 Pelagus seat for BN, was sacked by Sarawak Peoples Party (PRS) in 2007. Although partyless, Sng is regarded as a loyal member of BN by Abdul Taib Mahmud, the chairman of Sarawak BN coalition.^[8][9]

Notes and references

External links

• Malaysian Election Commission Official result of the election.
• BERNAMA More result.