2023 Terengganu state election

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

2023 Terengganu state election

← 2018 12 August 2023 2028 →
← outgoing members
All 32 elected seats in the Terengganu State Legislative Assembly 17 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	74.79%
Majority party Minority party   PH-BN Leader Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar Ahmad Said Raja Kamarul Bahrin Party PAS UMNO AMANAH Alliance Perikatan Nasional Parties PAS BERSATU Barisan Nasional Pakatan Harapan Parties UMNO PKR AMANAH Leader since 5 January 2021[1] 11 January 2019[2] 30 August 2017 Leader's seat Ru Rendang Ahmad: Contested in Kijal (defeated) Raja Kamarul Bahrin: Did not contest Last election 22 seats, 52.29% [nb 1] 10 seats, 47.72%[nb 2] Seats before 22 10 Seats won 32 0 Seat change 10 10 Popular vote 472,731 217,484 Percentage 68.44% 31.48% Swing 16.15% 16.24%
Menteri Besar of Terengganu before election Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar PN (PAS) Menteri Besar of Terengganu after election Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar (PN (PAS)

Terengganu is one of the states which did not dissolve simultaneously with Dewan Rakyat on 10 October 2022. It was decided by Perikatan Nasional on 13 October 2022.^[3]

The Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition led by Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) won all 32 seats, recording the first clean sweep in the state's history since 1978. Other candidates, including the Barisan Nasional (BN) – Pakatan Harapan (PH) electoral pact did not win any seats, with BN losing all its previous 10 seats, leaving the state assembly with no elected opposition representative.

The 2023 Kuala Terengganu by-election was held concurrently with this election.

Demographics

Ethnic breakdown of Terengganu state's electorate as of 2023

1. Malay (97.2%)
2. Chinese (2.4%)
3. Indian (0.3%)
4. Other ethnicities (0.1%)

Background

For the state elections, Perikatan Nasional has decided to use the PAS logo and name for all its candidate in Kelantan and Terengganu, regardless of the candidate party.^[4]

Constituencies

All 32 constituencies within Terengganu, which constitute the Terengganu State Legislative Assembly, were contested during the election.

Electoral map of Terengganu, showing all 32 constituencies

Breakdown of 2022 Malaysian general election result by state constituency in 2022, where PH in   Red, PN in   Blue-green and BN in   blue

Composition before dissolution

Government	Opposition
PN	BN
22	10
22	10
PAS	UMNO

Note: 1 seat is ADUN Lantikan (Nominated MLA) which is not contested in this election.^[5]

Timeline

The key dates are listed below.

Date	Event
13 October 2022	Perikatan Nasional decides not to dissolve the 14th Terengganu State Legislative Assembly.
28 June 2023	Dissolution of Terengganu State Legislative Assembly.[6]
5 July 2023	Issue of the Writ of Election
29 July 2023	Nomination Day
29 July–11 August 2023	Campaigning Period
8–11 August 2023	Early Polling Day For Postal, Overseas and Advance Voters
12 August 2023	Polling Day

Retiring incumbent(s)

The following members of the 14th State Legislative Assembly did not contest this election.

No.	State Constituency	Departing MLA	Coalition (Party)	Date confirmed	First elected	Reason
N6	Permaisuri	Abd Halim Jusoh	BN (UMNO)	21 July 2023	2013	Dropped by party.
N25	Bukit Besi	Roslee Daud
N12	Bukit Tunggal	Alias Razak	PN (PAS)	27 July 2023	1999	Not contesting state election (MP for Kuala Nerus).
N15	Ladang	Tengku Hassan Tengku Omar			2013	Dropped by party.
N26	Rantau Abang	Alias Harun
N27	Sura	Wan Hapandi Wan Nik
N32	Air Putih	Ab Razak Ibrahim			2018

Electoral candidates

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

No.	Parliamentary Constituency	No.	State Constituency	Voters	Incumbent State Assemblymen	Coalition (Party)	Political coalitions and parties
							Barisan Nasional + Pakatan Harapan[7][8][9]		Perikatan Nasional[10]		MUDA + PSM electoral pact[11]		Other parties/Independents
							Candidate Name	Party	Candidate Name	Party	Candidate Name	Party	Candidate Name	Party
P033	Besut	N01	Kuala Besut	26,992	Tengku Zaihan Che Ku Abd Rahman	BN (UMNO)	Tengku Zaihan Che Ku Abd Rahman	UMNO	Azbi Salleh	PAS
		N02	Kota Putera	32,792	Mohd Nurkhuzaini Ab Rahman	PN (PAS)	Muhammad Pehimi Yusoff	UMNO	Mohd Nurkhuzaini Ab Rahman	PAS
		N03	Jertih	29,088	Muhammad Pehimi Yusof	BN (UMNO)	Mohd Rozaini Rasli	UMNO	Riduan Mohd Nor	PAS
		N04	Hulu Besut	23,846	Nawi Mohamad	BN (UMNO)	Nawi Mohamad	UMNO	Mohd Husaimi Hussin	BERSATU			Che Harun Kamariah	IND
P034	Setiu	N05	Jabi	25,192	Azman Ibrahim	PN (PAS)	Rosdi Zakaria	UMNO	Azman Ibrahim	PAS
		N06	Permaisuri	30,739	Abd Halim Jusoh	BN (UMNO)	Hamdan Hamzah	UMNO	Mohd Yusop Majid	BERSATU
		N07	Langkap	22,439	Sabri Mohd Noor	BN (UMNO)	Sabri Mohd Noor	UMNO	Azmi Maarof	PAS
		N08	Batu Rakit	29,919	Bazlan Abd Rahman	BN (UMNO)	Bazlan Abd Rahman	UMNO	Mohd Shafizi Ismail	PAS
P035	Kuala Nerus	N09	Tepuh	30,448	Hishamuddin Abdul Karim	PN (PAS)	Muhammad Hanafi Hasan	UMNO	Hishamuddin Abdul Karim	PAS
		N10	Buluh Gading	27,845	Ridzuan Hashim	PN (PAS)	Omar Adam	UMNO	Ridzuan Hashim	PAS
		N11	Seberang Takir	27,733	Ahmad Razif Abdul Rahman	BN (UMNO)	Ahmad Razif Abdul Rahman[12]	UMNO	Khazan Che Mat	BERSATU
		N12	Bukit Tunggal	21,055	Alias Razak	PN (PAS)	Wan Noorislan Wan Hashim	UMNO	Zaharudin Zahid	PAS
P036	Kuala Terengganu	N13	Wakaf Mempelam	34,509	Wan Sukairi Wan Abdullah	PN (PAS)	Wan Mohd Haikal Wan Ghazali	PKR	Wan Sukairi Wan Abdullah	PAS
		N14	Bandar	22,057	Ahmad Shah Muhamed	PN (PAS)	Armi Irzan Mohd	UMNO	Ahmad Shah Muhamed	PAS	Luqman Long	MUDA
		N15	Ladang	26,250	Tengku Hassan Tengku Omar	PN (PAS)	Mohd Sabri Azmi	UMNO	Zuraida Md Noor	PAS
		N16	Batu Buruk	40,759	Muhammad Khalil Abdul Hadi	PN (PAS)	Mohamad Zamir Ghazali	AMANAH	Muhammad Khalil Abdul Hadi	PAS
P037	Marang	N17	Alur Limbat	36,087	Ariffin Deraman	PN (PAS)	Yuseri Isa	UMNO	Ariffin Deraman	PAS
		N18	Bukit Payung	28,823	Mohd Nor Hamzah	PN (PAS)	Mohd Khim @ Mohd Khan Abdul Rahman	UMNO	Mohd Nor Hamzah	PAS
		N19	Ru Rendang	32,867	Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar	PN (PAS)	Suhaimi Sulaiman	AMANAH	Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar	PAS
		N20	Pengkalan Berangan	35,248	Sulaiman Sulong	PN (PAS)	Nik Dir Nik Wan Ku	UMNO	Sulaiman Sulong	PAS
P038	Hulu Terengganu	N21	Telemung	21,495	Rozi Mamat	BN (UMNO)	Rozi Mamat	UMNO	Mohd Zawawi Ismail	BERSATU
		N22	Manir	20,639	Hilmi Harun	PN (PAS)	Eka Lisut	PKR	Hilmi Harun	PAS
		N23	Kuala Berang	21,428	Mamad Puteh	PN (PAS)	Jalaludin Ismail	UMNO	Mamad Puteh	PAS
		N24	Ajil	24,922	Maliaman Kassim	PN (PAS)	Jailani Johari	UMNO	Maliaman Kassim	PAS
P039	Dungun	N25	Bukit Besi	18,195	Roslee Daud	BN (UMNO)	Din Adam	UMNO	Ghazali Sulaiman	PAS
		N26	Rantau Abang	33,394	Alias Harun	PN (PAS)	Mohd Asri Mohamad	UMNO	Mohd Fadhli Rahmi Zulkifli	PAS
		N27	Sura	30,206	Wan Hapandi Wan Nik	PN (PAS)	Osman Omar	PKR	Tengku Muhammad Fakhruddin	PAS
		N28	Paka	34,839	Satiful Bahri Mamat	PN (PAS)	Ahmad Abdullah Abd Wahab	UMNO	Satiful Bahri Mamat	PAS
P040	Kemaman	N29	Kemasik	28,618	Saiful Azmi Suhaili	PN (PAS)	Mohd Khairi Mohamad Yusof	UMNO	Saiful Azmi Suhaili	PAS
		N30	Kijal	29,491	Ahmad Said	BN (UMNO)	Ahmad Said	UMNO	Razali Idris	BERSATU
		N31	Cukai	39,153	Hanafiah Mat	PN (PAS)	Mohamed Rahim Hussin	UMNO	Hanafiah Mat	PAS
		N32	Air Putih	43,826	Ab Razak Ibrahim	PN (PAS)	Mohd Zaki Salleh	UMNO	Mohd Hafiz Adam	PAS

Opinion polls

Polling firm	Dates conducted	Sample size	PH+BN	PN	Oth	Lead	Ref
Ilham Centre	29 July – 8 August 2023	2,304	21%	63%	14%	PN +42%	[13]

Results

For complete results, see Results of the 2023 Malaysian state elections by constituency § Terengganu.

Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Perikatan Nasional		Malaysian Islamic Party	414,430	60.00	27	+5
			Malaysian United Indigenous Party	58,301	8.44	5	+5
		Total		472,731	68.44	32	+10
	Pakatan Harapan + Barisan Nasional		United Malays National Organisation	198,268	28.70	0	–10
			National Trust Party	9,740	1.41	0	0
			People's Justice Party	9,476	1.37	0	0
		Total		217,484	31.48	0	–10
	MUDA + PSM		Malaysian United Democratic Alliance	372	0.05	0	New
	Independents			180	0.03	0	0
Total				690,767	100.00	32	–

By parliamentary constituency

PN won all parliamentary constituency by average percentages.

No.	Constituency	Pakatan Harapan + Barisan Nasional	Perikatan Nasional	Member of Parliament
P033	Besut	39.87%	59.87%	Che Mohd Zulkifly Jusoh
P034	Setiu	36.86%	63.14%	Shaharizukirnain Abdul Kadir
P035	Kuala Nerus	30.03%	69.97%	Alias Razak
P036	Kuala Terengganu	24.35%	75.23%	Ahmad Amzad Hashim
P037	Marang	26.02%	73.98%	Abdul Hadi Awang
P038	Hulu Terengganu	32.35%	67.65%	Rosol Wahid
P039	Dungun	25.04%	74.96%	Wan Hassan Mohd Ramli
P040	Kemaman	36.44%	63.56%	Che Alias Hamid

Seats that changed allegiance

No.	Seat	Previous Party (2018)			Current Party (2023)
N01	Kuala Besut		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Perikatan Nasional (PAS)
N03	Jertih		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Perikatan Nasional (PAS)
N04	Hulu Besut		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Perikatan Nasional (BERSATU)
N06	Permaisuri		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Perikatan Nasional (BERSATU)
N07	Langkap		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Perikatan Nasional (PAS)
N08	Batu Rakit		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Perikatan Nasional (PAS)
N11	Seberang Takir		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Perikatan Nasional (BERSATU)
N21	Telemung		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Perikatan Nasional (BERSATU)
N25	Bukit Besi		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Perikatan Nasional (PAS)
N30	Kijal		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)		Perikatan Nasional (BERSATU)

Aftermath

Ahmad Samsuri were sworn in as Menteri Besar in front of Sultan of Terengganu for the second term on 15 August 2023, along with 10 EXCO members from PN.^[14][15]

Notes

1. New coalition formed in 2020. These numbers are the total seats and vote share of BERSATU, PAS and GERAKAN in the last election. The parties were previously part of Pakatan Harapan, Gagasan Sejahtera and Barisan Nasional.
2. Cooperation between PH and BN with 10 seats