2018 Kedah state election

2018 Kedah state election

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All 36 seats to the Kedah State Legislative Assembly 19 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   GS Leader Mukhriz Mahathir Ahmad Fakhruddin Fakhrurazi Ahmad Bashah Md. Hanipah Party Pakatan Harapan (Bersatu) Gagasan Sejahtera (PAS) Barisan Nasional (UMNO) Leader since 7 January 2018 2017 2016 Leader's seat Jitra Pengkalan Kundor (lost seat) Bakar Bata (lost seat) Last election 7 seats, 16.31% (Pakatan Rakyat) 8 seats, 32.42% , (Pakatan Rakyat) 21 seats, 50.37% Seats before 9 7 20 Seats won 18 15 3 Seat change 9 8 17 Popular vote 343,519 313,171 278,694 Percentage 36.5% 33.7% 29.6% Swing 20.2% 1.3% 20.8%
Pakatan Harapan seats:    DAP    PKR    Bersatu    Amanah Opposition seats:    PAS    UMNO
Menteri Besar before election Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah BN Elected Menteri Besar Mukhriz Mahathir Pakatan Harapan

The 14th Kedah State election was held on 9 May 2018, concurrently with the 2018 Malaysian general election. The previous state election was held on 5 May 2013. The state assemblymen is elected to 5 years term each.

The Kedah State Legislative Assembly would automatically dissolve on 23 June 2018, the fifth anniversary of the first sitting, and elections must be held within sixty days (two months) of the dissolution (on or before 21 August 2018, with the date to be decided by the Election Commission), unless dissolved prior to that date by the Head of State (Sultan of Kedah) on the advice of the Head of Government (Menteri Besar of Kedah).

The state election resulting in a hung parliament, as no parties gained simple majority. Pakatan Harapan (PH) gained a plurality in the election, winning 18 seats but still short of 1 seat for a simple majority win; ^[1] nevertheless PH were invited by Sultan of Kedah to form the state government. Mukhriz Mahathir, from BERSATU, was sworn in as Menteri Besar on 11 May 2018. ^[2] This is Mukhriz's second term as Menteri Besar, having held the position from 2013 to 2016 under his previous party UMNO-BN.

Contenders

Barisan Nasional (BN) contested all 36 seats in Kedah State Legislative Assembly. Barisan Nasional (BN) linchpin party United Malays National Organisation (UNMO) is to set to contest major share of Barisan Nasional (BN) seats.

Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) also contested all 36 seats in Kedah. ^[3]

Pakatan Harapan have decided to contest all 36 seats in Kedah. On 4 February 2018, Pakatan Harapan has yet to finalize 4 seats. The seats are Guar Chempedak, Pantai Merdeka, Gurun and Kulim. ^[4] On 26 February 2018, Pakatan Harapan has completed the distribution of seats in Kedah. Malaysian United Indigenous Party (Bersatu) is to set to contest major share of Pakatan Harapan seats. ^[5] Malaysian United Indigenous Party (Bersatu) will contest in 14 seats while the National Trust Party (Amanah) will have 10 seats. People's Justice Party (PKR) and the Democratic Action Party (DAP) will contest 10 and 2 seats.

Political parties

Coalition			Other parties
Incumbent	Opposition
Barisan Nasional (BN)	Pakatan Harapan (PH)	Gagasan Sejahtera (GS)	Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) [6]
United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan)	Malaysian United Indigenous Party (Bersatu) National Trust Party (Amanah) People's Justice Party (PKR) Democratic Action Party (DAP)	Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS)

The contested seats

No.	State constituency	Incumbent State Assemblyman	Political parties
			Barisan Nasional [7]		Pakatan Harapan [8] [9] [10]		Gagasan Sejahtera [11]		Other parties/Ind
			Candidate Name	Party	Candidate Name	Party	Candidate Name	Party	Candidate Name	Party
N01	Ayer Hangat	Mohd Rawi Abdul Hamid (BN)	Mohd Rawi Abdul Hamid	UMNO	Johari Bulat	Bersatu	Azlina Azinan	PAS	—	—
N02	Kuah	Nor Saidi Nanyan (BN)	Nor Saidi Nanyan		Mohd Firdaus Ahmad		Mazlan Ahmad		Mohamad Ratu Mansor	IND
N03	Kota Siputeh	Abu Hasan Sarif (BN)	Ahmad Azhar Abdullah		Salmee Said	Amanah	Mat Rejab Md Akhir		—	—
N04	Ayer Hitam	Mukhriz Mahathir (PH)	Abu Hasan Sarif		A. Aziz Mohamod	Bersatu	Azhar Ibrahim		—	—
N05	Bukit Kayu Hitam	Ahmad Zaini Japar (BN)	Ahmad Zaini Japar		Halimahton Shaadiah Saad		Habshah Bakar		—	—
N06	Jitra	Aminuddin Omar (BN)	Aminuddin Omar		Mukhriz Mahathir		Zulhazmi Othman		—	—
N07	Kuala Nerang	Badrol Hisham Hashim (BN)	Badrol Hisham Hashim		Syed Fadzil Syed Embun		Munir @ Mohamad Yusuf Zakaria		—	—
N08	Pedu	Kama Noriah Ibrahim (BN)	Kama Noriah Ibrahim		Hashim Idris	PKR	Mohd Radzi Md Amin		—	—
N09	Bukit Lada	Ahmad Lebai Sudin (BN)	Ariffin Man		Mohd Aizad bin Roslan	Bersatu	Salim Mahmood		Ismail Othman	IND
N10	Bukit Pinang	Wan Romani Wan Salim (GS)	Mohammad Nawar Ariffin		Che Mat Dzaher Ahmad	PKR	Wan Romani Wan Salim		—	—
N11	Derga	Tan Kok Yew (PH)	Cheah Soon Hai	Gerakan	Tan Kok Yew	DAP	Yahya Saad		—	—
N12	Suka Menanti (previously known as Bakar Bata)	Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah (BN)	Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah	UMNO	Zamri Yusuf	PKR	Mohd Sabri Omar		—	—
N13	Kota Darul Aman	Teoh Boon Kok @ Teoh Kai Kok (PH)	Tan Eng Hwa	MCA	Teh Swee Leong	DAP	Zulkifli Che Haron		Tan Kang Yap	PRM
N14	Alor Mengkudu	Ahmad Saad @ Yahaya (GS)	Abdul Malik Saad	UMNO	Phahrolrazi Mohd Zawawi	Amanah	Ahmad Yahya		—	—
N15	Anak Bukit	Amiruddin Hamzah (PH)	Johari Aziz		Amiruddin Hamzah	Bersatu	Hamdi Ishak		—	—
N16	Kubang Rotan	Mohd Nasir Mustafa (GS)	Abdul Muthalib Harun		Mohd Asmirul Anuar Aris	Amanah	Omar Saad		—	—
N17	Pengkalan Kundor	Phahrolrazi Zawawi (PH)	Abd. Halim Said		Ismail Salleh		Ahmad Fakhruddin Sheikh Fakhrurazi		—	—
N18	Tokai	Mohamed Taulan Mat Rasul (GS)	Fatahi Omar		Mohd Firdaus Jaafar		Mohd Hayati Othman		—	—
N19	Sungai Tiang	Suraya Yaacob (BN)	Suraya Yaacob		Abdul Razak Khamis	Bersatu	Saiful Syazwan Shafie		—	—
N20	Sungai Limau	Mohd Azam Samat (GS)	Norma Awang		Zahran Abdullah	Amanah	Mohd Azam Abd Samat		—	—
N21	Guar Chempedak	Ku Abdul Rahman Ku Ismail (BN)	Ku Abdul Rahman Ku Ismail		Mohd Saffuan Sabari	Bersatu	Musoddak Ahmad		—	—
N22	Gurun	Leong Yong Kong (BN)	Boey Chin Gan	MCA	Johari Abdul	PKR	Muzaini Azizan		Palaniappan Marimuthu	IND
N23	Belantek	Mohd Tajudin Abdullah (BN)	Mohd Tajudin Abdullah	UMNO	Abdul Rashid Abdullah	Amanah	Mad Isa Shafie		—	—
N24	Jeneri	Mahadzir Abdul Hamid (BN)	Mahadzir Abdul Hamid		Mohd Nazri bin Abu Hassan	Bersatu	Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor		—	—
N25	Bukit Selambau	Krishnamoorthy Rajannaidu (PH)	Jaspal Singh Gurbakhes Singh	MIC	Summugam Rengasamy	PKR	Mohd Ali Sulaiman		—	—
N26	Tanjong Dawai	Tajul Urus Mat Zain (BN)	Anuar Ahmad	UMNO	Annuar Abd Hamid	Bersatu	Hanif Ghazali		—	—
N27	Pantai Merdeka	Ali Yahaya (BN)	Ali Yahaya		Rosli Yusof	Amanah	Ahmas Fadzli Hashim		—	—
N28	Bakar Arang	Ooi Tze Min (PH)	Ko Hung Weng	MCA	Ooi Tze Min	PKR	Othman Che Mee		Tan Khee Chye	PRM
									Tan Hock Huat	IND
N29	Sidam	Robert Ling Kui Ee (PH)	Tan Kok Seong	Gerakan	Robert Ling Kui Ee		Norhidayah Foo Abdullah		Mohd Hashim Saaludin	PRM
N30	Bayu	Azmi Che Husain (BN)	Mohamed Noor Mohamed Amin	UMNO	Abd Rahim Kechik	Bersatu	Abd Nasir Idris		—	—
N31	Kupang	Harun Abdul Aziz (BN)	Harun Abdul Aziz		Johari Abdullah	Amanah	Najmi Ahmad		—	—
N32	Kuala Ketil	Md Zuki Yusof (GS)	Mohd. Khairul Abdullah		Mohamad Sofee Razak	PKR	Mansor Zakaria		—	—
N33	Merbau Pulas	Siti Aishah Ghazali (GS)	Asmadi Abu Talib		Abd. Razak Salleh	Amanah	Siti Aishah Ghazali		—	—
N34	Lunas	Azman Nasrudin (PH)	Thuraisingam K.S. Muthu	MIC	Azman Nasrudin	PKR	Ahmad Taufiq Baharum		—	—
N35	Kulim	Chua Thiong Gee (BN)	Chua Thiong Gee	MCA	Yeo Keng Chuan		Mohd Khairi Mohd Salleh		Lee Ah Liong	PRM
N36	Bandar Baharu	Norsabrina Mohd Noor (BN)	Norsabrina Mohd Noor	UMNO	Azimi Daim	Bersatu	Rohaizat Ja'afar		—	—

Election pendulum

The 14th General Election witnessed 18 governmental seats and 18 non-governmental seats filled the Kedah State Legislative Assembly. The government side has 1 safe seat and 3 fairly safe seats. However, none of the non-government side has safe and fairly safe seat.

2018 Kedah state election

GOVERNMENT SEATS Marginal Kota Siputeh Salmee Said AMANAH 38.52 Alor Mengkudu Phahrolrazi Zawawi AMANAH 39.75 Kulim Yeo Keng Chuan PKR 41.55 Bukit Kayu Hitam Halimahton Shaadiah Saad BERSATU 41.72 Anak Bukit Ir. Amiruddin Hamzah BERSATU 42.21 Pengkalan Kundor Dr. Ismail Salleh AMANAH 42.58 Ayer Hangat Johari Bulat BERSATU 42.89 Bukit Selambau Summugam Rengasamy PKR 45.11 Gurun Johari Abdul PKR 47.32 Kubang Rotan Mohd. Asmirul Anuar Aris AMANAH 48.67 Kuah Mohd. Firdaus Ahmad BERSATU 49.05 Derga Tan Kok Yew DAP 50.79 Suka Menanti Zamri Yusuf PKR 53.35 Jitra Mukhriz Dr. Mahathir BERSATU 55.58 Fairly safe Lunas Azman Nasrudin PKR 57.62 Sidam Robert Ling Kui Ee PKR 58.09 Bakar Arang Simon Ooi Tze Min PKR 58.21 Safe Kota Darul Aman Teh Swee Leong DAP 69.99 NON-GOVERNMENT SEATS Marginal Bandar Baharu Norsabrina Mohd. Noor UMNO 34.43 Merbau Pulas Siti Aishah Ghazali PAS 34.57 Guar Chempedak Dr. Ku Abdul Rahman Ku Ismail UMNO 35.30 Tanjong Dawai Hanif Ghazali PAS 35.37 Ayer Hitam Azhar Ibrahim PAS 36.71 Sungai Tiang Suraya Yaacob UMNO 38.39 Bukit Lada Salim Mahmood PAS 38.85 Pedu Mohd. Radzi Md. Amin PAS 43.13 Bukit Pinang Wan Romani Wan Salim PAS 43.57 Bayu Abd. Nasir Idris PAS 43.70 Kuala Ketil Mansor Zakaria PAS 44.09 Kuala Nerang Mohamad Yusoff Zakaria PAS 45.61 Pantai Merdeka Ahmad Fadzli Hashim PAS 45.62 Kupang Najmi Ahmad PAS 45.64 Jeneri Muhammad Sanusi Md. Nor PAS 46.31 Belantek Mad Isa Shafie PAS 50.52 Tokai Dr. Mohd. Hayati Othman PAS 52.33 Sungai Limau Mohd. Azam Abd. Samat PAS 53.01

Results

Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Pakatan Harapan		People's Justice Party	143,812	15.29	7	+4
			Malaysian United Indigenous Party	114,838	12.21	5	+5
			National Trust Party	61,900	6.58	4	–
			Democratic Action Party	22,969	2.44	2	–
		Total		343,519	36.53	18	+12
	Gagasan Sejahtera		Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party	317,171	33.73	15	+6
	Barisan Nasional		United Malays National Organisation	226,273	24.06	3	–16
			Malaysian Chinese Association	24,616	2.62	0	–2
			Malaysian Indian Congress	16,938	1.80	0	0
			Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia	10,867	1.16	0	0
		Total		278,694	29.64	3	–18
	Parti Rakyat Malaysia			204	0.02	0	0
	Independents			726	0.08	0	0
Total				940,314	100.00	36	0
Valid votes				940,314	98.56
Invalid/blank votes				13,725	1.44
Total votes				954,039	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				1,146,492	83.21
Source: Malaysiakini [12] [13] [14]

By parliamentary constituency

Pakatan Harapan won 9 of 15 parliamentary constituency.

No.	Constituency	Barisan Nasional	Gagasan Sejahtera	Pakatan Harapan	Member of Parliament
P004	Langkawi	34.35%	19.49%	45.91%
					Nawawi Ahmad (13th Parliament)
					Mahathir Mohamad (14th Parliament)
P005	Jerlun	29.58%	34.15%	36.27%
					Othman Aziz (13th Parliament)
					Mukhriz Mahathir (14th Parliament)
P006	Kubang Pasu	27.97%	22.52%	49.51%	Mohd Johari Baharum (13th Parliament)
					Amiruddin Hamzah (14th Parliament)
P007	Padang Terap	38.52%	44.40%	17.08%	Mahdzir Khalid
P008	Pokok Sena	27.57%	36.74%	35.06%	Mahfuz Omar
P009	Alor Setar	26.21%	20.77%	53.02%
					Gooi Hsiao-Leung (13th Parliament)
					Chan Ming Kai (14th Parliament)
P010	Kuala Kedah	24.23%	31.09%	44.68%	Azman Ismail
P011	Pendang	32.28%	44.18%	23.54%
					Othman Abdul (13th Parliament)
					Awang Hashim (14th Parliament)
P012	Jerai	30.59%	37.36%	31.80%	Jamil Khir Baharom (13th Parliament)
					Sabri Azit (14th Parliament)
P013	Sik	36.23%	48.22%	15.55%	Mansor Abd Rahman (13th Parliament)
					Ahmad Tarmizi Sulaiman (14th Parliament)
P014	Merbok	27.86%	32.79%	39.35%	Ismail Daut (13th Parliament)
					Nor Azrina Surip (14th Parliament)
P015	Sungai Petani	22.77%	30.50%	46.55%	Johari Abdul
P016	Baling	39.87%	44.45%	15.68%	Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim
P017	Padang Serai	24.17%	28.51%	47.32%
					Surendran Nagarajan (13th Parliament)
					Karuppaiya Muthusamy (14th Parliament)
P018	Kulim-Bandar Baharu	31.57%	31.01%	37.36%	Abd. Aziz Sheikh Fadzir (13th Parliament)
					Saifuddin Nasution Ismail (14th Parliament)

Seats that changed allegiance

No.	Seat	Previous Party (2013)			Current Party (2018)
N01	Ayer Hangat		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Pakatan Harapan (BERSATU)
N02	Kuah		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Pakatan Harapan (BERSATU)
N03	Kota Siputeh		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Pakatan Harapan (AMANAH)
N04	Ayer Hitam		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Gagasan Sejahtera (PAS)
N05	Bukit Kayu Hitam		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Pakatan Harapan (BERSATU)
N06	Jitra		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Pakatan Harapan (BERSATU)
N07	Kuala Nerang		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Gagasan Sejahtera (PAS)
N08	Pedu		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Gagasan Sejahtera (PAS)
N09	Bukit Lada		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Gagasan Sejahtera (PAS)
N12	Suka Menanti		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Pakatan Harapan (PKR)
N14	Alor Mengkudu		Gagasan Sejahtera (PAS)		Pakatan Harapan (AMANAH)
N15	Anak Bukit		Gagasan Sejahtera (PAS)		Pakatan Harapan (BERSATU)
N16	Kubang Rotan		Gagasan Sejahtera (PAS)		Pakatan Harapan (AMANAH)
N17	Pengkalan Kundor		Gagasan Sejahtera (PAS)		Pakatan Harapan (AMANAH)
N22	Gurun		Barisan Nasional (MCA)		Pakatan Harapan (PKR)
N23	Belantek		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Gagasan Sejahtera (PAS)
N24	Jeneri		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Gagasan Sejahtera (PAS)
N26	Tanjong Dawai		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Gagasan Sejahtera (PAS)
N27	Pantai Merdeka		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Gagasan Sejahtera (PAS)
N30	Bayu		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Gagasan Sejahtera (PAS)
N31	Kupang		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Gagasan Sejahtera (PAS)
N35	Kulim		Barisan Nasional (MCA)		Pakatan Harapan (PKR)

Aftermath

See also: 2020 Malaysian political crisis § Kedah

Pakatan Harapan contest in Kedah for the first time using one of its component party logo, PKR. As the result, PH was able to wrest half of the 36 state seats, comprising most of the mixed seats including Malay/Muslim majority seats in the urban and semi-urban areas, as well as the only single Chinese-majority state seats of Kota Darul Aman that was retained by its other component party, DAP since 2008.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) that was formerly established its new state government for the first time for a term between 2008 and 2013 via Pakatan Rakyat (PR, together with PKR and DAP on that time), was seen its influence again by dominating in predominantly Malay/Muslim majority seats (which was mainly in rural areas) despite gaining only 15 seats, additional another 6 seats compared to the previous election (9 seats). At the same time, it was the shock defeat for Barisan Nasional (BN), especially UMNO where it manage to retain just 3 seats compared to 21 seats in the previous state election (all the 3 seats was only retained by UMNO). Its other party component, MCA took no seats after the party lost in both seats of Gurun and Kulim to PH (PKR) candidates. Kedah BN leader, UMNO state chairman and previous Menteri Besar Ahmad Bashah said that his party accepted their defeat to PH and honoured the people's mandate in the election. ^[15] An UMNO MLA for Guar Chempedak, Ku Abdul Rahman Ku Ismail, on 12 November 2018 announced his resignation from UMNO and BN to support PH, and later joined BERSATU. ^[16] This made PH held 19 seats, enough for a simple majority in the Assembly.

The Pakatan Harapan state government led by Mukhriz however only lasts for 25 months, when in the wake of 2020 Malaysian political crisis, exit of Bersatu MLAs from PH and defection of support from ex-PH members turned independent, resulted in Mukhriz resignation as Menteri Besar. A new state government was formed in a coalition between BN (UMNO), Perikatan Nasional (Bersatu and PAS) and independent (ex-PKR) MLAs, with Sanusi Mohd Nor from PAS appointed as the new Menteri Besar on 17 May 2020. Mukhriz and Amiruddin Hamzah was later sacked from Bersatu on 28 May 2020, and they formed a new political party, PEJUANG on August that same year with other ex-Bersatu members.

References

1. "Malaysia GE: Formation of state govt in Perak Kedah and Sabah up to parties, says election commission". The Straits Times. 10 May 2018. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
2. Petah Wazzan Iskandar (11 May 2018). "Mukhriz sworn in as Kedah Menteri Besar [NSTTV]". New Straits Times. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
3. "PAS Kedah tampil 70 peratus calon baru". Archived from the original on 21 February 2018. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
4. 4 kerusi DUN Kedah masih tak selesai
5. Rundingan muktamad, Bersatu beroleh kerusi DUN terbanyak
6. PRM umum tanding satu kerusi Parlimen, tiga Dun di Kedah
7. Nawawi akan berdepan Mahathir di Langkawi
8. Amanah umum 13 calon tanding di Kedah
9. Mahathir bertanding di Langkawi, Wan Saiful sah di Pendang
10. "Official: Wan Azizah moves to Pandan, Nurul goes to Permatang Pauh". Malaysiakini. 24 April 2018. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
11. Senarai calon Pas bertanding di Kedah pada PRU14
12. "【 GE14 】Malaysiakini Live Reports and Results". live.malaysiakini.com. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
13. "Undi.info Live". live.undi.info. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
14. "Free Malaysia Today - GE14 Election Day". Free Malaysia Today. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
15. Embun Majid (10 May 2018). "Kedah BN accepts election results". New Straits Times. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
16. "Adun Guar Chempedak keluar Umno". Malaysiakini (in Malay). 12 November 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2023.