1970 Sarawak state election

Background

Prior to 1969 election, a political party was suspended from contesting in general election. The political party later mounted a public campaign calling the voters to boycott the election. The Sarawak parliamentary and state election was resumed from Saturday, 6 June 1970 to Saturday, 4 July 1970. During the resumption of the election, there was a tragedy in Sarikei in the third division of Sarawak on 29 June 1970. The communist terrorists had killed three election officials on their return journey after completing polling at a station. There was also an incident where a land mine was exploded outside the polling station in the same division.

This election saw 332,373 eligible voters after the first registration in Sarawak. The turn up rate of voters was 80.0%, which was considered high as compared to other states in Malaysia. A total of 221 candidates were contesting for 48 state seats in Sarawak. The breakdown of number of seats were:

• 33 seats were contested by Sarawak Alliance (Perikatan Sarawak in Malay). It was made up of Parti Bumiputera Sarawak (BUMIPUTERA) and Sarawak Chinese Association (SCA)
• 40 seats by Sarawak United Peoples' Party (SUPP)
• 35 seats by Parti Pesaka Sarawak (Pesaka)
• 47 seats by Sarawak National Party (SNAP)

There were 66 independent candidates vying for the seats.

Results

Summary

As a result of Parti Bumiputera-SCA alliance, SCA received majority of its votes from Malay voters. Meanwhile, Dayak parties (SNAP and PESAKA) only attracted 37.6% of the vote although the Dayak people made up of 46% of the electorate.

Tindak Malaysia Github

Results by constituency

The full list of representatives is shown below:

Aftermath

The prime minister of Malaysia, Tun Abdul Razak invited SUPP to join the Sarawak Alliance a month before the election to form a coalition government as SNAP previously did not have a good relationship with the federal government. SUPP eventually followed the federal preferences to form a coalition government with Parti Bumiputera. This enables the coalition to secure a total of 27 out of 48 seats in the Sarawak Council Negri (now Sarawak State Legislative Assembly). SUPP joined the coalition government as an equal partner with Parti Bumiputera, where both parties signed a letter of understanding on the composition of the new Sarawak government cabinet. Abdul Rahman Ya'kub (Parti Bumiputera) was nominated as chief minister with Stephen Yong (SUPP) and Simon Demak Maja (PESAKA) as deputy chief ministers. SCA was excluded from the Sarawak cabinet positions after the elections.

References

References

1. (1972). "The Sarawak Elections of 1970: An Analysis of the Vote". Journal of Southeast Asian Studies.
2. {https://github.com/TindakMalaysia/HISTORICAL-ELECTION-RESULTS/blob/main/1969-ELECTION-RESULTS/MALAYSIA_1969_DUN_RESULTS.csv}
3. [https://archive.org/details/penyata-pilehanraya-umum-dewan-raayat-dan-dewan-undangan-negeri-bagi-neger12-tan Report on the parliamentary (Dewan Rakyat) and state legislative assembly general elections 1969 of the states of Malaya, Sabah, and Sarawak (Malay-English bilingual version)]. [[Election Commission of Malaysia]]. URL accessed on 19 November 2009
4. (2004). "Turbulent times in Sarawak: the end of expatriate influence and the struggle for power over and within the state". Borneo Research Bulletin.