Winning 72 out of 82 seats with an increase in its popular vote. Barisan Nasional (BN) garnered 63.72% of the popular vote, an increase of 8.32% from the last state election. While credit has gone to “Team Adenan” and “Team Najib”, questions remain when looking more closely at the results. Was there a swing against BN in rural Sarawak? Have Chinese voters returned to BN, as the MCA claims? And what about the factionalism in BN and infighting over seat allocations in Pakatan? What model of coalition-building works best? 

This report is by Sharaad Kuttan and Melisa Idris.