State Level
At the state level, voters elect representatives to the Dewan Undangan Negeri (State Legislative Assembly). The number of representatives varies between the different states, with as many as 71 electorates in Sarawak and as little as 15 in Perlis. Members are elected from single-member constituencies drawn based on population using the first-past-the-post system. State assembly constituencies are usually smaller (in area and population) than the parliamentary constituencies. The party that forms the majority of the state assembly will form the state government.
Usually, state elections are held simultaneously with the parliamentary election but each state can decide when to hold its election. This is because state assemblies are dissolved by their respective Ruler or governor on the advice of the chief minister of the state. For example, in the 1999 general election, the state elections of the 11 states on Peninsular Malaysia were held simultaneously with the parliamentary election while the state elections of Sabah and Sarawak were held at different dates. In the 2004 and 2008 general elections, the state election of Sabah were held simultaneously with the parliamentary election as well, but Sarawak held its state election in 2006 and 2011.
Before the 2008 elections, the Barisan Nasional usually controlled most of the state assemblies in every election, with the notable exception of the state of Kelantan. Kelantan has been a stronghold of the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) since 1959. However, Barisan Nasional lost an additional four states (Penang, Kedah, Perak and Selangor) to the loose coalition of opposition parties composed of PAS, Democratic Action Party (DAP) and People's Justice Party (PKR) in the 2008 elections, which has been termed by the Opposition as the 'political tsunami' of Malaysia.
Read more about this topic: Elections In Malaysia
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