2018 Kedah state election

The 14th Kedah State election was held on 9 May 2018, concurrently with the 2018 Malaysian general election. The previous state election was held on 5 May 2013. The state assemblymen is elected to 5 years term each.

The Kedah State Legislative Assembly would automatically dissolve on 23 June 2018, the fifth anniversary of the first sitting, and elections must be held within sixty days (two months) of the dissolution (on or before 21 August 2018, with the date to be decided by the Election Commission), unless dissolved prior to that date by the Head of State (Sultan of Kedah) on the advice of the Head of Government (Menteri Besar of Kedah).

The state election resulting in a hung parliament, as no parties gained simple majority. Pakatan Harapan (PH) gained a plurality in the election, winning 18 seats but still short of 1 seat for a simple majority win; nevertheless PH were invited by Sultan of Kedah to form the state government. Mukhriz Mahathir, from BERSATU, was sworn in as Menteri Besar on 11 May 2018. This is Mukhriz's second term as Menteri Besar, having held the position from 2013 to 2016 under his previous party UMNO-BN.

Contenders
Barisan Nasional (BN) contested all 36 seats in Kedah State Legislative Assembly. Barisan Nasional (BN) linchpin party United Malays National Organisation (UNMO) is to set to contest major share of Barisan Nasional (BN) seats.

Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) also contested all 36 seats in Kedah.

Pakatan Harapan have decided to contest all 36 seats in Kedah. On 4 February 2018, Pakatan Harapan has yet to finalize 4 seats. The seats are Guar Chempedak, Pantai Merdeka, Gurun and Kulim. On 26 February 2018, Pakatan Harapan has completed the distribution of seats in Kedah. Malaysian United Indigenous Party (Bersatu) is to set to contest major share of Pakatan Harapan seats. Malaysian United Indigenous Party (Bersatu) will contest in 14 seats while the National Trust Party (Amanah) will have 10 seats. People's Justice Party (PKR) and the Democratic Action Party (DAP) will contest 10 and 2 seats.

Election pendulum
The 14th General Election witnessed 18 governmental seats and 18 non-governmental seats filled the Kedah State Legislative Assembly. The government side has 1 safe seat and 3 fairly safe seats. However, none of the non-government side has safe and fairly safe seat.

Results


By parliamentary constituency
Pakatan Harapan won 9 of 15 parliamentary constituency.

Aftermath
Pakatan Harapan contest in Kedah for the first time using one of its component party logo, PKR. As the result, PH was able to wrest half of the 36 state seats, comprising most of the mixed seats including Malay/Muslim majority seats in the urban and semi-urban areas, as well as the only single Chinese-majority state seats of Kota Darul Aman that was retained by its other component party, DAP since 2008.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) that was formerly established its new state government for the first time for a term between 2008 and 2013 via Pakatan Rakyat (PR, together with PKR and DAP on that time), was seen its influence again by dominating in predominantly Malay/Muslim majority seats (which was mainly in rural areas) despite gaining only 15 seats, additional another 6 seats compared to the previous election (9 seats). At the same time, it was the shock defeat for Barisan Nasional (BN), especially UMNO where it manage to retain just 3 seats compared to 21 seats in the previous state election (all the 3 seats was only retained by UMNO). Its other party component, MCA took no seats after the party lost in both seats of Gurun and Kulim to PH (PKR) candidates. Kedah BN leader, UMNO state chairman and previous Menteri Besar Ahmad Bashah said that his party accepted their defeat to PH and honoured the people's mandate in the election. An UMNO MLA for Guar Chempedak, Ku Abdul Rahman Ku Ismail, on 12 November 2018 announced his resignation from UMNO and BN to support PH, and later joined BERSATU. This made PH held 19 seats, enough for a simple majority in the Assembly.

The Pakatan Harapan state government led by Mukhriz however only lasts for 25 months, when in the wake of 2020 Malaysian political crisis, exit of Bersatu MLAs from PH and defection of support from ex-PH members turned independent, resulted in Mukhriz resignation as Menteri Besar. A new state government was formed in a coalition between BN (UMNO), Perikatan Nasional (Bersatu and PAS) and independent (ex-PKR) MLAs, with Sanusi Mohd Nor from PAS appointed as the new Menteri Besar on 17 May 2020. Mukhriz and Amiruddin Hamzah was later sacked from Bersatu on 28 May 2020, and they formed a new political party, PEJUANG on August that same year with other ex-Bersatu members.