Malaysia Begins Rectifying Major Flaws in its Election System

Abstract

The 14th General Election (GE14) turned out to be momentous for democracy in Malaysia. On 9 May 2018, the rule of the once-invincible Barisan Nasional (BN) was brought to an end, and a peaceful transition of power was made to a new coalition government under the 93-year-old Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. With the change, Malaysia entered a political environment with new possibilities for democratic and electoral reforms. This article will highlight some of the key conditions and circumstances that made GE14 an uneven playing field for the opposition parties even before the election was called, and biased the conduct of GE14 itself. This is followed by an overview of the situation after GE14, and a discussion of proposals for sustainable electoral reforms.