9 - Electoral Impasse of Dual-Coalition Politics in 2013

Summary

The 13th general election could be seen as failure for both grand coalitions of the BN and the PR. The BN failed to win as many seats as it did in 2008, indicating that its previously highly successful coalition politics and its strategy of mediated communalism was finally being seriously contested. For the PR, its failure to win the election in spite of its spectacular success in overtaking the BN for the share of the popular vote (of 51 per cent) was an indication that its consociational model was still unable to surpass that of the BN. In a sense, for the first time in Malaysia's history, there was an almost perfect competition between the two rival coalitions, leading to a sort of impasse in terms of electoral outcome.

For some the 13th general election could be interpreted as a “victory” of the people and civil society in that citizens’ political efficacy had never been greater. There were record voter turnouts and civic engagement had surged to its most impressive level, even surpassing that prior to the previous general election. For the BN it was a pyrrhic exercise, given the massive resources expended and the less-than-satisfactory overall returns. Notably, a skewed electoral system, manipulation of voter rolls, unethical electoral practices and outright fraud continue to stymie the movement towards a critical break for a change in the electoral system. It could, however, be hypothesized that the progressive change in electoral dynamics, while affecting ethnic relations marginally, seems to have broken new ground, symbolized by a shift in the national popular vote to the PR for the first time. Against this is the resurgence of the deeply embedded political discourse of Malay supremacy, which is reflexively reinforced by a pivotal Islamic discourse and practice among the Muslim population.

What was evident was that the path dependence of the twincoalition system of the BN and PR was affirmed as the system remained firmly on track. More remarkably, no third parties won any seats at the parliamentary level.