GE15 results were predictable but the end showed how racial and religious the country has been with the North & East of the Peninsular going to the radial Perikatan Nasional (PN) whilst the West & South to Pakatan Harapan (PH) with Barisan Nasional (BN) picking the middle. East Malaysia squarely went to the dominant GRS & GPS coalition. Image source: Wikipedia
Read these first:-
- General Elections 2022: Pakatan’s Action Plan – Positive & Direct Part 2
- Malaysia in Turmoil 2020: Malaysia in Stalemate & Anwar’s Chance is Slim
- GE14 2018: The Day Frustrated Malaysians Made History – Part 1
- GE14 2018: The Day Frustrated Malaysians Made History – Part 2
- Malaysia in Turmoil 2020: The King Have Decided But Questions Arises
The traffic was bad even when it was still early in the morning. It looks like most people had the same thoughts as us i.e. to come to the polling station as early as they can, vote, and then relax for the rest of the day with plenty of chips and beers watching the GE15 results.
GE15 Personal Experience
The day to vote started at about 5.30 in the morning and the first thing I noticed as I woke up was the heavy rain outside. It was not a good start for one of the important events for the whole country. However since the polling station only opened at 8 am, we still had time before going over and I hoped the rain would have stopped by then.
We decided to have a light breakfast at home to avoid the possible crowd at the restaurants and also to avoid going to the polling station late. The rain had stopped by then but we were not sure about the weather at the polling station.
The traffic towards the polling station was fair and clear but as we drive nearer to the actual polling station (there were two close to each other), we noticed the cars parked on both sides of the road. At some points, the gaps between the 2 cars were too narrow that a bus will not pass through. Some people are just too lazy and selfish. It was drizzling by then and I just realized that I left the car umbrella at home.
One great thing is that despite this happens once every 5 years, the process is very clean and smooth. There were plenty of volunteers who made sure we are queueing up at the right stations and placed enough plastic chairs for those who could not stand too long. This was better than during GE14 where we had to stand longer and no chairs were provided.
Fortunately, we got a space to park the car quite near the entrance of the school where we suppose to vote, so we decided to “run” for it. Good thing, there was cover from the main entrance to the main hall where queues had started to form at each “station”. One station was reserved for the elderly whilst another was for the young, new voters. The queue was long but it was moving quite fast and the volunteers stationed several chairs in case some of them were unable to stand for long. The time then showed almost 9 am and after 30 minutes, we only moved to half of the queue.
It was almost 10.20 am when it was my turn finally and the only change in the process compared to the voting in the past elections is that we need to put our mobile phone in a box as we voted and collect it back once we are done. It was still drizzling when we left the polling station. Somehow we were very hungry by then so we made our way to a favorite coffee shop where there is a famous nasi lemak stall.
Had a heavy second breakfast at home and spent the rest of the time watching the TV on the progress of the voting. Knowing that we will be awake the whole night (and wee hours) to check on the results, we decided to go for a short nap. We did not know that we are going to have very disappointing results for Pakatan.
GE15 Overall Statistics
The Election Commission reported for GE15, there is a total of 21.2 million registered voters against the total population of 32.3 million. Comparing the numbers for GE14 in 2018, there is a total of 14.9 million registered voters against the total population of 32.3 million. There is an increase of almost 6.2 million registered voters in 2022.
At about 12 pm, the Election Commission reported that 42% of the voters had voted and the turnout percentage was not looking too positive. Despite the call for a minimum turnout of 85%, the actual voters who voted were 15.5 million voters which represented an overall of only 73% turnout even though there were higher percentages at specific voting stations.
The poor turnout could be due to the weather which in some places was made difficult by heavy rain and flooding. Compare this with the turnout in 2018 GE14 where the total number of voters who voted was 12.3 million which reflected a turnout of more than 82%.
In summary, the 2022 GE15 saw an additional 3.2 million voters against the 2018 GE14 but with a lower percentage of almost 10%.
At 2.30 am on Sunday morning, regrettably, the map was not looking red enough. The country has shifted backward, that’s for sure. Now it is a matter of who will join who and is likely to be PN-BN-GPS all over again. Image source: Astro Awani
GE15 Result Outcome
Understandably and as predicted, Pakatan Harapan managed to get the most seats compared to the other coalitions in this GE15. However, it is not enough to make a simple majority of 112 seats and this is due to the votes against BN being diverted to PN instead.
| Party | Votes Received | % | Won Seats | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pakatan Harapan (PH) | 5,801,327 | 37.5 | 82 | 37.3 |
| Perikatan Nasional (PN) | 4,700,819 | 30.4 | 73 | 33.2 |
| Barisan Nasional (BN) | 3,462,231 | 22.4 | 30 | 13.6 |
| Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) | 610,812 | 3.9 | 23 | 10.5 |
| Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) | 202,376 | 1.3 | 6 | 2.7 |
| Others | 709,773 | 4.6 | 6 | 2.7 |
| Total | 15,487,338 | 220 |
The worst performer in this GE15 is BN who only managed to get 30 seats compared to 79 seats in the 2018 GE14. PH who includes the Bersatu politicians in 2018 managed to get 113 seats in GE14 but for 2022 GE15 and excluding Bersatu, they only managed to capture 82 seats. The biggest winner in GE15 is PAS who managed to get 44 seats compared to 17 seats in 2018.
Within Pakatan Harapan, the biggest contributor is still DAP who managed to get 40 seats compared to PKR which only got 32 seats. DAP lost 2 seats (1 in Sarawak, and 1 in Sabah) compared to 2018 whilst PKR lost 4 seats compared to 2018.
There were major casualties from all political parties as well
- Nurul Izzah Anwar – Permatang Pauh
- Khairy Jamaluddin – Sungai Buloh, Selangor
- Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah – Gua Mussang, Kelantan
- Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor – Putrajaya
- Mahathir Mohamad – Langkawi, Kedah
- Mukhriz Mahathir – Jerlun, Kedah
- Saifuddin Nasution Ismail – Kulim, Kedah
- Maszlee Malik – Simpang Renggam, Johore
- Mohamed Azmin Ali – Gombak, Selangor
GE15 Hung Parliament
The GE15 ended rather quietly on Saturday evening but within hours, it was clear that Pakatan Harapan was not winning enough seats in Peninsular Malaysia to get the political parties from Sarawak & Sabah. The GE15 interactive map online was showing more blues than reds which means that the seats are going to Perikatan Nasional or Barisan Nasional.
| PH, GPS, GRS, WAR | PH, BN, WAR | PH, BN,GPS, GRS, WAR | PN, GPS, GRS, WAR | PN, BN, GPS, GRS, WAR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PH | 83 | 83 | 83 | ||
| PN | 73 | 73 | |||
| BN | 30 | 30 | 30 | ||
| GPS | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | |
| GRS | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | |
| WAR | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 115 | 116 | 145 | 105 | 135 | |
| OTH | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 119 | 120 | 149 | 109 | 139 | |
| Total | 222 | 222 | 222 | 222 | 222 |
| % | 51.80 | 52.25 | 65.32 | 47.30 | 60.81 |
Note: The above tabulation is on the assumption that the last 2 parliamentary seats have been contested in GE15 and PH & GPS won each of the said seats. Both PH and PN do not have enough seats to make a simple majority and thus need GPS, GRS & BN to support them.
PN has made a public statement that they will not work with PH and this is despite the King himself requesting PN & PH to consider working together in a unity government led by Anwar Ibrahim.
At one point, Anwar Ibrahim was actually trailing Ahmad Faizal aka Peja in his new election home and rumors started to fly online that he may have lost. It was the same case for Prabakaran at Batu and Zahid Hamidi at Bagan Datuk. Image source: Astro Awani
Final Say
At the point of this post, Malaysia is yet to have a Prime Minister as both Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) did not have enough seats to form the next Federal Government on their own. GPS & GRS despite being aware of the extremism of PAS decided to stick with PN but BN decided to remain on their own. Now everyone is waiting for the final decision from the King.
Update: After five exhausting days, the King after consultation with other royalties and talking to the major political coalitions has finally declared Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the 10th Prime Minister. To be frank, it was a logical move considering PH represents the best solution.
At the same time, PH should review and identify the shortcomings in this GE15 and prepare for the next elections, namely the state elections in 2023 where we have 3 PH states on the plate. And one of the key areas that PH needs to revamp and improve is the voters’ engagement in social media.