2018 Perlis state election

The 14th Perlis State election was held on 9 May 2018. The previous state election was held on 5 May 2013. The state assemblymen is elected to 5 years term each.

2018 Perlis state election

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All 15 seats in the Perlis State Legislative Assembly 8 seats needed for a majority
Registered	150,221
Turnout	123,036 (85.91%)
Majority party Minority party Third party   BN PH GS Leader Azlan Man Ameir Hassan Mohd Shukri Ramli Party Barisan Nasional (UMNO) Pakatan Harapan (Bersatu) Gagasan Sejahtera (PAS) Leader since 2013 30 August 2017 2013 Leader's seat Bintong Pauh (lost seat) Sanglang Last election 13 seats, 55.37% 1 seat, 18.10% (Pakatan Rakyat) 1 seat, 23.71% (Pakatan Rakyat) Seats before 13 1 1 Seats won 10 3 2 Seat change 3 2 1 Popular vote 47,151 42,220 31,335 Percentage 39.02% 34.94% 25.93% Swing 16.35% 16.84% 2.22%
Menteri Besar before election Azlan Man BN Elected Menteri Besar Azlan Man BN

The Perlis State Legislative Assembly would automatically dissolve on 28 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 28 August 2018, with the date to be decided by the Election Commission), unless dissolved prior to that date by the Head of State (King of Perlis) on the advice of the Head of Government (Menteri Besar of Perlis).

The incumbent party Barisan Nasional won a simple majority of 10 seats and was able to form a government. The opposition Pakatan Harapan won 3 seats while Gagasan Sejahtera won 2 seats.^[1]

Background

Electoral system

Each state constituencies of Perlis will elect one member to the Perlis State Legislative Assembly using the first-past-the-post voting system. If one party obtains a majority of seats, then that party is entitled to form the State Government, with its leader as Menteri Besar. If the election results in no single party having a majority, there is a hung assembly, of which will be dissolved under the royal prerogative of the Raja.

The redistricting of electoral boundaries for the entire country had been presented to and passed by the Dewan Rakyat, and subsequently gazetted on 29 March 2018 after obtaining the royal consent of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong ahead of the 14th general election.^[2] Elections are conducted by the Election Commission of Malaysia (EC), which is under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister's Department.

Voting Eligibility

To vote in the state election, one had to be:^[3]

• registered in the electoral roll as an elector in the constituency in which he resides on;
• aged 21 or over on the registration date;
• a resident of the constituency, or if not so, an absentee voter;
• not disqualified under any law relating to offences committed in connection with elections.

Contenders

Barisan Nasional (BN) contested in all 15 seats in Perlis State Legislative Assembly. Barisan Nasional (BN) linchpin party United Malays National Organisation (UNMO) contested in 13 seats and Malaysian Chinese Association(MCA) contested in 2 seats.

Pakatan Harapan contested in all 15 seats in Perlis.

Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) also contested in all 15 seats.^[4]

Political parties

Coalition
Incumbent	Opposition
Barisan Nasional (BN)	Gagasan Sejahtera (GS)	Pakatan Harapan (PH)
United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA)	Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS)	Malaysian United Indigenous Party (Bersatu) People's Justice Party (PKR) National Trust Party (Amanah) Democratic Action Party (DAP)

The contested seats

No.	State constituency	Incumbent State Assemblyman	Political parties
			Barisan Nasional[5]		Gagasan Sejahtera[6]		Pakatan Harapan[7][8][9]		Other parties/Ind
			Candidate Name	Party	Candidate Name	Party	Candidate Name	Party	Candidate Name	Party
N01	Titi Tinggi	Khaw Hock Kong (BN)	Teh Chai Aan	MCA	Kamis Yub	PAS	Teh Seng Chuan	DAP	Yaacob Man	IND
N02	Beseri	Mat Rawi Kassim (BN)	Ruzaini Rais	UMNO	Azamhari Mohamood		Wan Kharizal Wan Khazim	Amanah	—	—
N03	Chuping	Asmaiza Ahmad (BN)	Asmaiza Ahmad		Mohd. Ali Puteh		Poziyah Hamzah	PKR	—	—
N04	Mata Ayer	Khairi Hasan (BN)	Siti Berenee Yahaya		Mohammad Yahya		Azhar Omar	Bersatu	—	—
N05	Santan	Sabry Ahmad (BN)	Azizan Sulaiman		Baharuddin Ahmad		Che Mazlina Che Yob	Amanah	—	—
N06	Bintong	Rela Ahmad (BN)	Azlan Man		Abd. Jamil Kamis		Mokhtar Che Kassim		—	—
N07	Sena	Abdul Jamil Saad (BN)	Azihani Ali		Fakhrul Anwar Ismail		Asrul Nizan Abd Jalil	PKR	—	—
N08	Indera Kayangan	Chan Ming Kai (PH)	Chuah Tian Hee	MCA	Wan Hassan Wan Ismail		Gan Ay Ling		—	—
N09	Kuala Perlis	Mat Hassan (BN)	Azam Rashid	UMNO	Mohamad Fuat Abu Bakar		Nor Azam Karap		—	—
N10	Kayang	Ahmad Bakri Ali (BN)	Hamizan Hassan		Md Radzi Hassan		Abdul Hannaan Khairy	Bersatu	—	—
N11	Pauh	Azlan Man (BN)	Rozieana Ahmad		Idris Yaacob		Ameir Hassan		—	—
N12	Tambun Tulang	Ismail Kassim (BN)	Ismail Kassim		Abu Bakar Ali		Maton Din		—	—
N13	Guar Sanji	Jafperi Othman (BN)	Afifi Osman		Mohd Ridzuan Hashim		Baridah Che Nayan		—	—
N14	Simpang Empat	Nurulhisham Yaakob (BN)	Nurulhisham Yaakob		Rus'sele Eizan		Wan Noralhakim Shaghir Saad	PKR	—	—
N15	Sanglang	Mohd Shukri Ramli (GS)	Zaidi Saidin		Mohd. Shukri Ramli		Zolkharnain Abidin	Amanah	—	—

Election pendulum

The 14th General Election witnessed 10 governmental seats and 5 nongovernmental seats filled the Perlis State Legislative Assembly. However, none of the government side has safe and fairly safe seat, while the non-government side has just 1 fairly safe seat.

2018 Perlis state election

GOVERNMENT SEATS Marginal Titi Tinggi Teh Chai Aan MCA 35.39 Simpang Empat Nurulhisham Yaakob UMNO 36.46 Pauh Rozieana Ahmad UMNO 39.29 Bintong Azlan Man UMNO 40.59 Kayang Hamizan Hassan UMNO 41.09 Beseri Ruzaini Rais UMNO 41.94 Santan Azizan Sulaiman UMNO 42.18 Mata Ayer Siti Berenee Yahaya UMNO 43.54 Tambun Tulang Ismail Kassim UMNO 45.82 Chuping Asmaiza Ahmad UMNO 46.42 NON-GOVERNMENT SEATS Marginal Sanglang Mohd. Shukri Ramli PAS 40.82 Sena Asrul Nizan Abd. Jalil PKR 42.07 Guar Sanji Mohd. Ridzuan Hashim PAS 42.19 Kuala Perlis Nor Azam Karap PKR 51.13 Fairly safe Indera Kayangan Gan Ay Ling PKR 57.71

Results

For complete results, see Results of the Malaysian general election, 2018 by state constituency § Perlis.

The result of the election was announced after 5pm on 9 May 2018. Barisan Nasional won 10 out of 15 seats and was entitled to form a government in Perlis.

Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Barisan Nasional		United Malays National Organisation	42,543	35.21	9	–3
			Malaysian Chinese Association	4,608	3.81	1	0
		Total		47,151	39.02	10	–3
	Pakatan Harapan		People's Justice Party	17,935	14.84	3	+2
			Malaysian United Indigenous Party	12,562	10.40	0	0
			National Trust Party	9,103	7.53	0	0
			Democratic Action Party	2,620	2.17	0	0
		Total		42,220	34.94	3	+2
	Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party			31,335	25.93	2	+1
	Independents			132	0.11	0	0
Total				120,838	100.00	15	0
Valid votes				120,838	98.21
Invalid/blank votes				2,198	1.79
Total votes				123,036	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				150,221	81.90
Source: BERNAMA[10][11]

By parliamentary constituency

Barisan Nasional won 2 of 3 parliamentary constituency.

No.	Constituency	Barisan Nasional	Gagasan Sejahtera	Pakatan Harapan	Member of Parliament
P001	Padang Besar	41.88%	25.72%	32.04%	Zahidi Zainul Abidin
P002	Kangar	35.69%	20.87%	43.44%
					Shaharuddin Ismail (13th Parliament)
					Noor Amin Ahmad (14th Parliament)
P003	Arau	40.14%	31.84%	28.02%	Shahidan Kassim

Seats that changed allegiance

No.	Seat	Previous Party (2013)			Current Party (2018)
N07	Sena		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Pakatan Harapan (PKR)
N09	Kuala Perlis		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Pakatan Harapan (PKR)
N13	Guar Sanji		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Gagasan Sejahtera (PAS)

Aftermath

Menteri Besar controversy

Azlan Man from BN was sworn in for his second term as the Menteri Besar on 24 May 2018, but the ceremony was boycotted by other BN MLAs, who named Ismail Kassim as their Menteri Besar choice.^[12] The BN state chief, Shahidan Kassim, later that day announced that Azlan was sacked as UMNO and BN member, and become an independent;^[13] however Azlan disputes the announcement, saying he had not received official sacking letter from UMNO and he is still with UMNO and BN.^[14] The King of Perlis expressed his sadness over the whole situation, and explained his rationale behind decision in accepting Azlan as the Menteri Besar.^[15][16]

The 9 MLAs later retracted their boycott of Azlan and announced their support for him and seeking forgiveness from the King of Perlis, on 5 June 2018.^[17] The state EXCO members were sworn in on 13 June 2018, making Perlis the last state in Malaysia to appoint EXCO members after the 2018 election. All BN MLAs were appointed as EXCO members except Ismail, who did not attend the ceremony.^[18]

On 20 June 2018, Ismail resigned from UMNO and BN, and became an independent. However he rejoined UMNO in May 2020.^[19][20][21]