1978 Malaysian General Election
8–22 July 1978 · The Barisan Nasional decades · 154 seats, 78 for a majority
General elections were held in Malaysia between Saturday, 8 July and Saturday, 22 July 1978. Voting took place in all 154 parliamentary constituencies, each electing one Member of Parliament to the Dewan Rakyat, the dominant house of Parliament.
Cleanly counted but heavily tilted: severe malapportionment, government-controlled media and the Internal Security Act framed every contest of the Barisan Nasional decades.
Prime Minister before
Hussein Onn
BN
Prime Minister (continued)
Hussein Onn
BN
Largest force
BN
130 of 154 seats
Turnout
75.3%
The result
| Share of the Dewan Rakyat | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BN | Hussein Onn | 130 | -5 | 1,987,907 | 57.2% | -3.6 | |
| DAP | Lim Kit Siang | 16 | +7 | 664,433 | 19.1% | +0.8 | |
| PAS | Asri Muda | 5 | -8 | 537,720 | 15.5% | — |
3 further seats went to parties and independents outside the main contenders listed above.