Sarawak state election, 1983

Sarawak state election, 1983

28-29 December 1983

All 48 seats in the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly 25 seats needed for a majority Registered 505,872 Turnout 367,060 (72.56%)   Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Abdul Taib Mahmud James Wong Daniel Tajem Party Barisan Nasional SNAP PBDS Leader since 26 March 1981 (1981-03-26) December 1981 (1981-12) 17 July 1983 (1983-07-17) Leader's seat Sebandi Limbang Lingga Last election 45 seats, 61.2% 16 seats, 16.7% New party Seats before 45 16 - Seats won 30 8 6 Seat change 15 8 - Popular vote 166,819 46,741 33,712 Percentage 46.2% 13.0 9.3 Swing 3.9% 3.7% -

Chief Minister before election Abdul Taib Mahmud Barisan Nasional Subsequent chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud Barisan Nasional

The fourth Sarawak state election was held between Wednesday, 28 December and Thursday, 29 December 1983 with a nomination date on Thursday, 8 December 1983. The two-day duration of the election was shorter than the eight-day election in 1979 state election because of improvements in transportation and communication systems. Only 45 out of 48 seats were contested. The state assembly was dissolved on 18 November 1983 by the governor of Sarawak with the advice of chief minister of Sarawak, which was one year and 15 days earlier than the expiration of the state assembly on 3 December 1984.^[1]

The election was held during the peak of monsoon season. This election saw 505,872 registered voters eligible to vote, with 367,060 voters (72.56%) actually casting their votes. In this election, Sarawak Barisan Nasional (BN) fielded candidates for 32 seats, SNAP for 18 seats, PBDS for 14 seats, Democratic Action Party (DAP) for 7 seats, and Sarawak Democratik Bersatu (BERSATU) for 4 seats. There were 80 independents contesting for the seats.^[1]

Background

The 1983 leadership crisis of Sarawak National Party (SNAP, a component party of BN) has caused the emergence of an offshoot party named Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS). However, chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud decided to accept PBDS into the BN coalition. This has caused dissatisfaction of SNAP leadership towards Taib. Both parties SNAP and PBDS were unwilling to compromise any of their seats. Therefore, Taib decided to allow SNAP and PBDS to compete against each other by under their respective party symbols.^[2] Serious competitions occurred in state constituencies contested by PBDS and SNAP. Generally, this election was carried out in a peaceful and orderly manner except for the clashes between PBDS candidate and the election officials in N 35 Machan constituency.^[1] Sarawak BN, composed of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) and Sarawak United Peoples' Party (SUPP), won 29 seats on the election day. They later accepted SNAP and PBDS into the coalition, thus securing a total of 44 of 48 seats.

Results

The full list of representatives is shown below:^[1]

Three seats were won uncontested by Barisan Nasional (BN):

N24. Matu Daro won by Wahab Haji Dollah

N32. Oya won by Haji Salleh Jafaruddin

N44. Miri won by Dr George Chan Hong Nam

Percentage of votes garnered by each party

^[1]

Summary

^[2]

References

State elections in Malaysia
Kelantan	1978
Sabah	1964 (indirect) 1967 1971 1976 1981 1985 1986 1990 1994 1999 2004 2008 2013
Sarawak	1963 (indirect) 1969 1974 1979 1983 1987 1991 1996 2001 2006 2011 2016
Selangor	2013 Next
Singapore	1963

Elections in Malaysia
General elections	1955 1959 1964 1969 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1995 1999 2004 2008 2013 next by-elections
State elections	1954 1955 1959 1963 1964 1967 1969 1971 1974 1976 1978 1979 1981 1982 1983 1985 1986 1987 1990 1991 1994 1995 1996 1999 2001 2004 2006 2008 2011 2013 2016 by-elections
Local elections	1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965
See also: Elections in Johor Kedah Kelantan Kuala Lumpur Labuan Malacca Negeri Sembilan Pahang Penang Perak Perlis Putrajaya Sabah Sarawak Selangor Terengganu