ASEAN Beat | Politics | Southeast Asia

Anwar Ibrahim’s Coalition Suffers Another State-level Electoral Defeat

In Negeri Sembilan, the Pakatan Harapan coalition was washed away by a wave of Malay unity that could determine the outcome of the next general election.

Supporters of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition rally in Negeri Sembilan ahead of state elections, July 31, 2026.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s coalition has suffered another state-level setback, losing control of the government in Negeri Sembilan to two rival political coalitions, a month after a similar defeat in Johor.

In Saturday’s election, the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition won 18 of the 36 seats in the state’s legislative assembly and was set to form government with the pan-Malay Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition, which won seven seats. Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) pact, which had ruled Negeri Sembilan in coalition with BN prior to this weekend’s election, won the remaining 11 seats, down from 17.

Speaking on Saturday night, BN Chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told the press thanked voters for putting their trust in BN’s candidates and that an electoral understanding between the two coalitions would “result in the formation of a stable government,”

Zahid said the two coalitions would now have further discussions to finalize the formation of the state government before seeking an audience with the state ruler Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir.

“Our responsibility begins tonight … the message is clear. The people want stability that has been missed,” Zahid said, as per Channel News Asia.

The state election was called after months of political and constitutional uncertainty in Negeri Sembilan. In late April, BN lawmakers withdrew their support for the state’s Chief Minister, Aminuddin Harun, due to his handling of a complex crisis involving the state’s monarchy. This eventually precipitated the collapse of the PH-BN state administration and the dissolution of the legislative assembly on June 5.

The victory for BN and PN marked another significant setback for PH, following a similarly disappointing result in the Johor state election on July 11, when the coalition saw its representation slide from 12 of 56 state assembly seats to just eight. BN formed the government after winning won 48 of 56 state assembly seats, up from 40 at the last election in 2022.

It also augurs a further widening of the rift between BN and PH at the federal level. The two coalitions formed an unlikely federal partnership after a close general election in 2022, which brought together two parties – Anwar’s People’s Justice Party (PKR) and the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the main component of BN – that had been fierce rivals for years.

The two parties are almost certain to revert to their old rivalry at the next general election, which must be held by 2028 but, in light of the recent results, could be called earlier. (Anwar said in May ⁠he would consider calling a snap general election if the divisions within the ruling coalition became too much to manage.)

According to political analysts, UMNO/BN’s revival has been driven by a Malay-Muslim unity narrative that has eaten into the support base of PH. Since the 2018 general election, when UMNO/BN was turfed out of power for the first time since independence, Malay ethnic politics has been unusually fragmented, with PN (established in 2020) seeking to........

© The Diplomat