Local election competition for national party survival: an analysis of Merlimau by-election in Malaysia

Party politics in Malaysia has become tumultuous over the past two decades. As such national and regional level elections as well as by-elections have become equally sensitive for party politics. Of late by-elections have taken a special position as they are considered unseasonal barometer for testi...

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Main Author:	Moniruzzaman, Md.
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Macrothink Institute 2016
Subjects:	JA Political science (General) JQ Political institutions Asia
Online Access:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/50132/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/50132/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/50132/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/50132/1/Merlimau_byelection_JSSS_2016.pdf

id	iium-50132
recordtype	eprints
spelling	iium-501322016-07-15T03:08:55Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/50132/ Local election competition for national party survival: an analysis of Merlimau by-election in Malaysia Moniruzzaman, Md. JA Political science (General) JQ Political institutions Asia Party politics in Malaysia has become tumultuous over the past two decades. As such national and regional level elections as well as by-elections have become equally sensitive for party politics. Of late by-elections have taken a special position as they are considered unseasonal barometer for testing popularity and legitimacy of the incumbent and the opposition competition. The effect of the dramatic 2008 national general elections in Malaysia continued during the subsequent three years through nearly one and a half dozen by-elections throughout the country. Until November 2010, the opposition remained jubilant over its victory in eight out of 11 by-elections maintaining the funfair of the rising opposition unprecedented in Malaysia’s election history. But the tide started to dwindle with the subsequent three wins in Galas, Tenang and Batu Sapi by the ruling coalition turning the trend around. Under this circumstance came the Merlimau by-election in March 2011. Reflecting the reality on the ground, therefore, this by-election became a battleground for party political survival for both the ruling and opposition coalitions. This article discusses the campaign strategies of the competing coalitions, the results of the election, and its implications. The importance of this by-election is that it reflected the intensity of national level electoral sensitivity since the ruling party’s political survival was dependent upon wining this election against a series of by-elections won by the opposition. Macrothink Institute 2016-03-23 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/50132/1/Merlimau_byelection_JSSS_2016.pdf Moniruzzaman, Md. (2016) Local election competition for national party survival: an analysis of Merlimau by-election in Malaysia. Journal of Social Science Studies, 3 (2). pp. 117-132. ISSN 2329-9150 http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/jsss/article/view/9202/7487 10.5296/jsss.v3i2.9202
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	International Islamic University Malaysia
building	IIUM Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
topic	JA Political science (General) JQ Political institutions Asia
spellingShingle	JA Political science (General) JQ Political institutions Asia Moniruzzaman, Md. Local election competition for national party survival: an analysis of Merlimau by-election in Malaysia
description	Party politics in Malaysia has become tumultuous over the past two decades. As such national and regional level elections as well as by-elections have become equally sensitive for party politics. Of late by-elections have taken a special position as they are considered unseasonal barometer for testing popularity and legitimacy of the incumbent and the opposition competition. The effect of the dramatic 2008 national general elections in Malaysia continued during the subsequent three years through nearly one and a half dozen by-elections throughout the country. Until November 2010, the opposition remained jubilant over its victory in eight out of 11 by-elections maintaining the funfair of the rising opposition unprecedented in Malaysia’s election history. But the tide started to dwindle with the subsequent three wins in Galas, Tenang and Batu Sapi by the ruling coalition turning the trend around. Under this circumstance came the Merlimau by-election in March 2011. Reflecting the reality on the ground, therefore, this by-election became a battleground for party political survival for both the ruling and opposition coalitions. This article discusses the campaign strategies of the competing coalitions, the results of the election, and its implications. The importance of this by-election is that it reflected the intensity of national level electoral sensitivity since the ruling party’s political survival was dependent upon wining this election against a series of by-elections won by the opposition.
format	Article
author	Moniruzzaman, Md.
author_facet	Moniruzzaman, Md.
author_sort	Moniruzzaman, Md.
title	Local election competition for national party survival: an analysis of Merlimau by-election in Malaysia
title_short	Local election competition for national party survival: an analysis of Merlimau by-election in Malaysia
title_full	Local election competition for national party survival: an analysis of Merlimau by-election in Malaysia
title_fullStr	Local election competition for national party survival: an analysis of Merlimau by-election in Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed	Local election competition for national party survival: an analysis of Merlimau by-election in Malaysia
title_sort	local election competition for national party survival: an analysis of merlimau by-election in malaysia
publisher	Macrothink Institute
publishDate	2016
url	http://irep.iium.edu.my/50132/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/50132/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/50132/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/50132/1/Merlimau_byelection_JSSS_2016.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T21:10:50Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T21:10:50Z
_version_	1777411241341353984

Local election competition for national party survival: an analysis of Merlimau by-election in Malaysia

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