This Week in Asia Politics
DAP chief Anthony Loke’s defeat in Chennah, which he has represented for 13 years, is a big blow to the ruling coalition’s largest party
3 -MIN READ 3 -MIN
Iman Muttaqin Yusof and Ushar Daniele
Pakatan Harapan (PH) won 11 of the state’s 36 seats on Saturday, down from 17 in 2023, while Barisan Nasional (BN) secured 18 and its electoral partner, Perikatan Nasional (PN), took seven.
The setback followed PH’s near-wipeout in Sabah last November, where it won only one of 20 seats, and its rout in Johor three weeks ago, where it secured eight seats against BN’s 48.
The losses have become a national problem for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim , whose coalition took power after the inconclusive 2022 general election by joining BN, a bloc it had spent decades opposing.
The symbolism was most damaging for the Democratic Action Party (DAP), the Chinese-majority but officially multiracial party that holds the most parliamentary seats within PH.