Winning the popular vote is politically significant; winning most seats is what determines the government.
THE RECENT Negeri Sembilan state election has revived a familiar political argument: if Pakatan Harapan (PH) received the largest number of votes statewide, why did it not form the government?
Although this claim may appear persuasive, it misunderstands Malaysia’s electoral system.
Malaysia does not elect a government through a statewide popular vote. Instead, it uses the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system, under which elections are decided constituency by constituency.
In the 2026 Negeri Sembilan election, PH reportedly received 256,386 votes, compared with 227,067 for Barisan Nasional (BN) and 130,407 for Perikatan Nasional (PN).
Nevertheless, the official results showed that PH won only 11 of the 36 seats, while BN secured 18 and PN won seven. The cooperation between BN and PN therefore controlled 25 seats—well above the 19 required for a simple majority.
More importantly, describing PH’s result as a “majority of votes” is mathematically inaccurate.
Its 256,386 votes constituted approximately 40.2 percent of the votes cast. This was a plurality, meaning the largest individual share, but not an absolute majority exceeding 50 percent.
By comparison, BN and PN collectively received approximately 56 percent of the total vote. Therefore, even a popular-vote interpretation does not establish that most voters supported PH.
Under FPTP, the candidate receiving the most votes in each constituency wins the seat, regardless of the winning margin.
Votes accumulated beyond what is necessary to win do not produce additional seats. For example, a candidate winning an urban constituency by 15,000 votes still contributes only one seat, while another coalition may win several constituencies by margins of only a few hundred votes.
Consequently, votes concentrated heavily in a smaller number of constituencies can generate a high total vote but relatively few seats. This is the “winner-takes-all” characteristic of FPTP.
Such disproportionality is not unique to PH.
In Malaysia’s 2013 general election, Pakatan Rakyat obtained approximately 50.9 percent of the popular vote, while BN received about 47.4 percent.
Nevertheless, BN retained the federal government because it won more parliamentary seats. The same electoral principle applies regardless of which political coalition benefits from it.
In a parliamentary democracy, the government is formed by the party or coalition commanding the confidence of most elected representatives—not necessarily by the party receiving the highest aggregate vote.
At the federal level, this principle is embodied in Article 43(2)(a) of the Federal Constitution, which refers to majority confidence in the Dewan Rakyat (Attorney General’s Chambers of Malaysia). State governments operate according to the corresponding provisions of their state constitutions.
This does not mean that discussions about electoral reform, constituency boundaries or proportional representation are illegitimate. FPTP may produce disproportional outcomes and deserves critical evaluation.
However, political leaders should distinguish between criticising the system and misrepresenting its rules. Under Malaysia’s existing framework, every vote matters—but it matters primarily in determining the winner of its constituency. Winning the popular vote is politically significant; winning most seats is what determines the government.
