Transitioning from aggregated bipartism: state elections in Malaysia, May 2018–March 2022

ABSTRACTThis election article explains Malaysia’s winding democratization trajectory from one-coalition predominance (1957–1990) to aggregated bipartism (1990–2015, with intermissions) to fluid multipartism (particularly in the aftermath of 2020 to the present day), with the help of multilevel party system framework. The findings demonstrate that state-level dynamics can facilitate or impede the formation and sustenance of aggregated bipartism, known as the Two-Coalition System, in Malaysia. I identify the state-level factors that affect the emergence of, and disruptions to, aggregated bipartism in 1990-2015, and analyse the outcome of 16 state elections held between May 2018 and March 2022 amidst Malaysia’s transition from aggregated bipartism.KEYWORDS: Malaysiamultilevel party systemaggregated bipartismstate electionsethnic politicsparty reduction Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 For simplicity and consistency, election years are used to demarcate phases or periods, except for the starting of fluid multipartism in 2015.2 The unsustainability of this brief revival of BN’s hegemony is explained in Wong (Citation2018).3 The details of parties and coalitions mentioned in this article are provided in Appendix 1 in the online depository.4 An extended bibliography on Malaysian party politics is provided in Appendix 2 in the online depository.5 The current names of MCA and other parties are used here for ease of reference.6 Some may argue that bipartism emerged only in 1999 when the major opposition parties formally formed one coalition, BA, or only existed between 2008 and 2015 when PR competed rigorously against BN as a unified bloc controlling at least three states. However, as explained later, the formations and disintegrations of GR-APU, BA and PR were too similar for the quarter century (1990–2015) to not be seen as a party system distinctive from the periods before and after, notwithstanding the two intermissions in 1995–1999 and 2004–2008 which saw a brief revival of one-coalition predominance.7 GRS eventually evolved to exclude BN and national parties except Bersatu’s Sabah chapter.