2023 Selangor State Election

The 15th Selangor state election were held on 12 August 2023 to elect the State Assembly members of the 15th Selangor State Legislative Assembly, the legislature of the Malaysian state of Selangor.

Selangor is one of the states which did not dissolve simultaneously with Dewan Rakyat on 10 October 2022. It was decided by Pakatan Harapan on 15 October 2022.

In the state election, the Barisan Nasional (BN)- Pakatan Harapan (PH) electoral pact won the election by capturing 34 of 56 seats, with PH winning 32 of those seats and BN winning 2 seats. The Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition won the remaining 22 seats to become the main opposition in the state assembly.

Background

In the 2018 general election, Pakatan Harapan won the state of Selangor, winning 51 out of the 56 state seats. Despite various changes at the beginning of the 2020–2022 Malaysian political crisis, it did not affect the politics at the state level, allowing the Pakatan Harapan state government to continue to govern.

On 6 August 2020, the Chief Minister of Penang, Chow Kon Yeow, reiterated his stance that all states that have a Pakatan Harapan government, including Selangor, would not dissolve the state assemblies in order to coincide with a snap general election. This was because at the time, the Penang, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan state governments had a stable majority. The Pakatan Harapan leadership further emphasized that there will not be a dissolution in 2021 and 2022, citing various factors, such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the need for the state governments to complete a full term, and the possibility of various factors which might inconvenience people should the state elections be called at the wrong time, such as floods, ahead of the 2022 Malaysian general election.

On 10 October 2022, Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob dissolved Parliament, resulting in a snap general election being held in Malaysia on 19 November 2022. Traditionally, every state in Malaysia except Sarawak would hold their state elections concurrently with the general election for the sake of convenience, but since 2020, several Malaysian states held state elections separately from the general election, with Sabah on 26 September 2020, Melaka on 20 November 2021, Sarawak on 18 December 2021 and Johor on 12 March 2022. With the exception of Perlis, Perak and Pahang holding state elections during the 2022 Malaysian general election, all other states, including Selangor, will hold their state elections in 2023.

Constituencies

All 56 constituencies within Selangor, which constitute the Selangor State Legislative Assembly, were contested during the election.

Composition before dissolution

Timeline

The key dates are listed below.

Retiring incumbent

The following members of the 14th State Legislative Assembly have said that they do not intend to seek re-election.

Electoral candidates

Names in bold are the confirmed winners in the 2023 state election.

Opinion polls

Results

Seats that changed allegiance

Aftermath

The Pakatan Harapan- Barisan Nasional unity government coalition scored 34 seats, four short of a two-third majority. Pakatan Harapan itself scored 32 seats, losing the two-thirds supermajority it held since 2018.

Controversies

Four seats - Sungai Kandis, Gombak Setia, Taman Medan and Dengkil were picked up by Perikatan Nasional with majorities under 500 votes, with PN winning Taman Medan by a majority of only 30 votes.
Allegedly, nearly 2,000 ballots were reportedly missing in Sungai Kandis, which was decided by a 167-vote majority; the Pakatan Harapan candidate Zawawi Mughni, who was the constituency's assemblyman from 2018 to 2023, has filed a police report. The Pakatan-Barisan unity government alliance considered filing election petitions for the four seats, however eventually decided to file just 1 in gombak setia.

Notes

References

{{Malaysian elections

Selangor
Selangor state elections