Malaysian politics after 14th general election: Do the number of parliamentary seats matter for bn’s victory?

Abstract

This empirical study aims at examining the effect of the total number of parliamentary seats on the performance of Barisan Nasional (BN) over the past 45 years. This study is designed to investigate the strength of the relationship between the number of constituencies and electoral votes. Within the framework of grounded theory and documentary evidence, this paper deploys a simple linear regression analysis to estimate the model using yearly secondary data from 1974 till 2018. The empirical findings show that there is no significant relationship between the number of parliamentary seats and BN’s dominance in the past general elections. Surprisingly, we also notice a remarkably low positive correlation between these two variables. It is clear based on the study findings that it is voter sentiment that contributes most significantly towards sustaining political dominance in each general election. For this reason, it is imperative for every political coalition or individual party to understand the voter’s emotion and devise its manifesto accordingly to instill a higher level of voter’s confidence through their political and electoral campaigns.