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The 2008 Malaysian Elections: An End to Ethnic Politics?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2016

Thomas B. Pepinsky
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Abstract

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Malaysia's twelfth general elections, held on March 8, 2008, dealt a stunning blow to the incumbent Barisan Nasional regime. For the first time since 1969, the coalition did not receive its customary two-thirds majority in the lower house of parliament. Moreover, the opposition was able to form governments in five out of eleven peninsular Malaysian states. This article uses electoral, economic, and demographic data to test a number of potential explanations for these outcomes. Evidence indicates that the regime's decreased majority is the consequence of non-Malay voters' rejecting the incumbent regime in favor of secular opposition parties.

Keywords

Malaysiaelectionsauthoritarianismdemocratizationethnic politics
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of East Asian Studies , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 87 - 120
Copyright
Copyright © East Asia Institute 

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