Six state elections 2023
On 12 August 2023, six Malaysian states voted on the same day after GE15, and each side kept the states it already held.
what happened
On 12 August 2023, six of Malaysia's thirteen states held assembly elections on the same day: Selangor, Penang and Negeri Sembilan, where PH and BN cooperated in the elections after forming the federal unity government, and Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, then governed by Perikatan Nasional. The Election Commission had set the date on 5 July, with nomination day on 29 July and early voting on 8 August. Because Malaysian state assemblies do not determine who forms the federal government, the make-up of Anwar Ibrahim's federal administration was not formally at stake.
The headline outcome was that no state changed hands. PH-BN kept Selangor with 32 seats, Penang with 27 and Negeri Sembilan with 17 alongside BN's 14. PN kept Kedah with 33 of 36, Kelantan with 43 of 45, and Terengganu with all 32. Turnout, as announced by the EC, ranged from 74.79% in Terengganu down to 60.96% in Kelantan, with Selangor at 72% and Negeri Sembilan at 68.35%. Underneath the unchanged map, though, PN made gains in each of the three states it did not win: from 5 seats to 22 in Selangor, 1 to 11 in Penang, and 0 to 5 in Negeri Sembilan. PH-BN kept two-thirds control in Penang and Negeri Sembilan but lost it in Selangor.
Both sides claimed the result. Anwar Ibrahim called it a decision of the people that had to be respected and congratulated PN on retaining its three states. Muhyiddin Yassin called the outcome very encouraging and framed it as a referendum rejecting the unity government, calling for Anwar and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to step down. Those competing claims track a genuine ambiguity in the numbers: nothing flipped, but the opposition advanced.
Analysts split accordingly. The Diplomat and Anadolu Agency described the opposition as having failed to alter the status quo, and Mustafa Izzuddin, quoted by Al Jazeera, saw the result as relieving pressure on Anwar. Bridget Welsh argues the opposite — that this was not a status quo election, pointing to UMNO winning only 19 of the 108 seats it contested and to what she reads as a decline in reform as a mobilising theme. Lee Hwok Aun's ISEAS study of Selangor estimates PN took about 49% of Malay votes there against PH's 21% and BN's 27%, and concludes PH's period of dominance in the state has ended. Welsh's own estimate across all six states is that around 73% of Malay voters backed the opposition while large majorities of Chinese and Indian voters backed the government. These are analysts' estimates: the Election Commission does not publish results by ethnicity, and no polling-house survey of these particular elections is cited here.
The characterisation of that movement as a "green wave" belongs to commentators such as Welsh and to parts of the Malaysian press, not to the official record, and even among those who use the term there is disagreement about where it is heading. Syaza Shukri, writing later, argues it has subsided somewhat but is still alive, and stresses that PN's strength varies sharply with each state's demographics — Kelantan being overwhelmingly Malay, Penang far more mixed. For a first-time voter, the useful takeaway is narrower than either side's slogan: the six-state result changed no government, federal or state, but it did change the arithmetic inside three assemblies, and how much more it meant remains genuinely disputed.
the working
What the sources say
established
The six state assemblies dissolved on these dates: Kelantan on 22 June 2023; Selangor on 23 June; Penang, Kedah and Terengganu on 28 June; and Negeri Sembilan on 1 July.
established
The Election Commission announced on 5 July 2023 that polling for the six state elections would be held on 12 August 2023, with nomination day on 29 July 2023 and early voting on 8 August 2023.
EC sets polling day for August 12 · Nomination centres for six state elections open at 9am
established
The six states that voted were Selangor, Penang, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu. A Kuala Terengganu parliamentary by-election was held on the same day.
Relief for Anwar as Malaysians back status quo in state polls · State polls: Terengganu records highest voter turnout with 74.79pc
established
A total of 173 nomination centres opened simultaneously at 9am on 29 July 2023 across the six states.
established
EC chairman Abdul Ghani Salleh gave the final turnout figures as: Terengganu 74.79%, Kedah 73.86%, Penang 72.67%, Selangor 72%, Negeri Sembilan 68.35% and Kelantan 60.96%. The EC said these totals include regular, early and postal voters.
State polls: Terengganu records highest voter turnout with 74.79pc
established
ElectionData.MY records Selangor turnout at 72.0%, with constituency-level turnout ranging from 60.9% to 79.6%.
established
ElectionData.MY records Negeri Sembilan turnout at 68.3%, with 590,826 of 864,425 registered voters casting a ballot.
established
ElectionData.MY records Kelantan turnout at 61.0%, with constituency turnout ranging from 50.5% to 65.6% — the lowest of the six states on both the EC and ElectionData.MY figures.
Kelantan: 2023 State Election · State polls: Terengganu records highest voter turnout with 74.79pc
established
Selangor (56 seats): Pakatan Harapan 32, Perikatan Nasional 22, Barisan Nasional 2. ElectionData.MY records PH on 32 of 56 seats with 51.4% of the state's popular vote and PN on 22 seats.
Pakatan-BN denied two-thirds in Selangor... · Selangor: 2023 State Election
established
Penang (40 seats): Pakatan Harapan 27, Perikatan Nasional 11, Barisan Nasional 2.
Pakatan-BN denied two-thirds in Selangor... · Relief for Anwar as Malaysians back status quo in state polls
established
Negeri Sembilan (36 seats): Pakatan Harapan 17, Barisan Nasional 14, Perikatan Nasional 5. ElectionData.MY records the popular vote as PH 38.7%, PN 37.7% and BN 22.2%.
Pakatan-BN denied two-thirds in Selangor... · Negeri Sembilan: 2023 State Election
established
Kedah (36 seats): Perikatan Nasional 33, Pakatan Harapan 3.
Pakatan-BN denied two-thirds in Selangor... · Relief for Anwar as Malaysians back status quo in state polls
established
Kelantan (45 seats): Perikatan Nasional 43, Barisan Nasional 1, Pakatan Harapan 1. ElectionData.MY records PN on 43 of 45 seats with roughly 69% of the state's popular vote, and PH's single win at Kota Lama by 202 votes.
Pakatan-BN denied two-thirds in Selangor... · Kelantan: 2023 State Election
established
Terengganu (32 seats): Perikatan Nasional won all 32 seats.
Pakatan-BN denied two-thirds in Selangor... · Relief for Anwar as Malaysians back status quo in state polls
established
Across the six states, each bloc kept the states it already governed: the PH-BN unity government retained Selangor, Penang and Negeri Sembilan; Perikatan Nasional retained Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu.
Relief for Anwar as Malaysians back status quo in state polls · Relief for Malaysian PM Anwar
established
Perikatan Nasional increased its seat count in all three states the government retained: from 5 to 22 in Selangor, from 1 to 11 in Penang, and from 0 to 5 in Negeri Sembilan.
Relief for Anwar as Malaysians back status quo in state polls · Selangor's 2023 State Election: Pakatan-BN's Defense
established
The PH-BN side lost its two-thirds majority in the Selangor assembly while holding two-thirds in Penang and Negeri Sembilan.
Pakatan-BN denied two-thirds in Selangor... · Selangor's 2023 State Election
established
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said the outcome was "a decision of the people" that had to be respected, and congratulated both his own coalition and Perikatan Nasional for retaining their respective states.
Relief for Anwar as Malaysians back status quo in state polls · PM Anwar congratulates unity govt
established
Perikatan Nasional chairman Muhyiddin Yassin called the result "very encouraging" and described it as a referendum rejecting the unity government, calling on Anwar and his deputy Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to resign.
Relief for Anwar as Malaysians back status quo in state polls
established
No state government changed hands, so the composition of the federal government — which does not depend on state assemblies — was unchanged by the result.
Relief for Malaysian PM Anwar · Malaysia's key state elections end in status quo
where accounts differ
The parts nobody agrees on
contested
Whether the result is best read as "status quo maintained" is contested. The Diplomat and Anadolu Agency framed the outcome as the opposition failing to alter the status quo, and analyst Mustafa Izzuddin, quoted by Al Jazeera, described the result as providing "stress relief" for Anwar by maintaining the political status quo; analyst Oh Ei Sun, quoted in the same report, called it "a nail-biting win for Anwar".
Relief for Malaysian PM Anwar · Relief for Anwar as Malaysians back status quo in state polls
contested
Against that reading, political scientist Bridget Welsh argues this was not a status quo election, pointing to what she describes as significant realignment — including UMNO winning 19 of 108 seats it contested — and arguing that "reform as an effective political mobilizer by parties is declining".
Beginning of the End of Reformasi? Malaysia's August 2023 State Polls
contested
Whether Perikatan Nasional consolidated the Malay vote is likewise contested, and the supporting estimates come from different analysts using different methods. Lee Hwok Aun (ISEAS) estimates that in Selangor PN took about 49% of Malay votes against PH's 21% and BN's 27%, and that PN won every seat where Malays were two-thirds or more of voters; he concludes that "PH's 2008-2023 era of dominance has ended" in the state.
uncertain
Bridget Welsh's estimate for the six states is that roughly 73% of Malay voters backed the opposition while about 96% of Chinese and 87% of Indian voters backed the government, and that PN won 61 of the 245 seats at stake on about 49% of the popular vote. These are her estimates, not official figures — the Election Commission does not publish results by ethnicity.
Beginning of the End of Reformasi? Malaysia's August 2023 State Polls
contested
Welsh also argues that the causes are not only a "pull" toward PAS but a "push" — the difficulty PH and UMNO had in appealing to Malay voters. She describes the movement of the Malay vote from BN in 2018 to PN in 2023 as the "green wave", a characterisation used by her and by parts of the Malaysian press rather than a neutral description.
GE15 voting analysis - Part 7: Battle for Malays · State polls: How far can the green wave go?
contested
In a later Fulcrum analysis, Syaza Shukri (ISEAS visiting senior fellow and associate professor at IIUM) argued that the "Green Wave in Malaysia might have subsided somewhat but it is still alive", citing PN's varying performance in subsequent by-elections and noting that its strength differs sharply by state demographics — Kelantan being roughly 95% Malay against Penang's roughly 41%. Her analysis is an assessment at the time it was written, not a finding about elections held after it.
uncertain
Claims about how young voters behaved are estimates, not official data. A Bernama analysis reports Welsh's finding that turnout among Malaysians aged 18-30 at GE15 was about 75.6%, and that PN's support skewed younger; whether that pattern repeated at the 2023 state polls is an inference drawn by analysts rather than a measured result.
Analysis: Young voters helped 'green wave' at GE15 but will they show up again?
uncertain
Turnout below the GE15 level in some states was read by different commentators as ordinary state-election fatigue or as differential mobilisation. Lee Hwok Aun writes that Selangor turnout "rather exceeded expectations" at 72% and argues that opposition voters turned out relatively more strongly than the incumbent coalition's base. No official EC analysis of differential turnout by bloc was located.
still being researched
- The number of registered voters across the six states in aggregate, and the number of seats contested in total (245 is Welsh's figure), were not independently corroborated against an EC source.