1985 Sabah state election

← 1981

20–21 April 1985

1986 →

All 48 seats in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly
25 seats needed for a majority

	Majority party	Minority party	Third party

Leader	Joseph Pairin Kitingan	Mustapha Harun	Harris Salleh
Party	PBS	USNO	BERJAYA
Alliance			Barisan Nasional
Leader since	1984	1961	1976
Leader's seat	Tambunan	Usukan	Tenom (lost)
Last election	–	3 seats	44 seats
Seats won	25	16	7
Seat change	New	13	37
Popular vote	101,908	71,457	84,194
Percentage	37.30%	26.15%	30.81%

Chief Minister before election

Harris Salleh
Barisan Nasional, (BERJAYA)

Elected Chief Minister

Joseph Pairin Kitingan
PBS

The 1985 Sabah state election was held between Saturday, 20 April and Sunday, 21 April 1985. This was the fifth state election to take place. Parti Bersatu Sabah won 25 out 48 seats contested, thus forming government with its president Joseph Pairin Kitingan being sworn in as Chief Minister.^[1] This election is a milestone in Sabah political history as it marked the first time that a party not part of the nation's ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (BN) formed government.^[2] PBS took control of the state from the previous ruling government under Parti Berjaya—a partner of BN, which has been in power since 1976.

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Results


Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	United Sabah Party	101,908	37.30	25	New
	Sabah People's United Front	84,194	30.81	6	–38
	United Sabah National Organisation	71,457	26.15	16	+13
	United Pasok Nunukragang National Organisation	5,739	2.10	1	+1
	Sabah United Native People's Party	3,490	1.28	0	New
	United Sabah People's Action Party	2,995	1.10	0	New
	Democratic Action Party	2,303	0.84	0	0
	Independents	1,140	0.42	0	0
Total		273,226	100.00	48	0

Source: Yusoff^[3]

Aftermath

Pairin, himself a former member of Party Berjaya, formed PBS barely 47 days before the elections.^[2] Opponents of PBS, namely, Harris Salleh of Berjaya, and Tun Mustapha of USNO were dissatisfied with the result. Tun Mustapha then sought to get sworn in as Chief Minister illegally,^[4] and this resulted in a court battle which ended in favour of Pairin.^[5]^[6]

The election resulted in riots around Sabah between March and May 1986. Bombings occurred in Kota Kinabalu, and arson in other towns. The rioters were trying to bring down Pairin from being the head of the state government.

In 1986 itself, another election was announced following defections by PBS assemblymen to USNO. PBS won again, this time with a two-thirds majority.^[7] PBS joined the Barisan Nasional coalition after this election, but later left the coalition in 1990.

References

^ "Berjaya swept out of power". New Straits Times via Google News. 22 April 1985. p. 1. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
^ ^a ^b K. Ramanathan Kalimuthu (1986). "The Sabah State Elections of April 1985". Asian Survey. 26 (7). Asian Survey, Vol. 26, No. 7: 815–837. doi:10.2307/2644213. JSTOR 2644213.
^ Mohammad Agus Yusoff (2006) Malaysian Federalism: Conflict Or Consensus, p267
^ Kalimullah Hassan (18 November 2007). "OPINION: Reforms yes, but not through violence in the streets". New Straits Times. Archived from the original on 21 December 2007. Retrieved 18 January 2008.
^ Crossette, Barbara (1 October 1987). "Kota Kinabalu Journal; With Houses on Stilts and Hopes in Another Land". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 January 2007.
^ "Historical Background". Parti Bersatu Sabah. Archived from the original on 15 April 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2008.
^ "Is snap polls the answer?". The Star. 22 June 2008. Archived from the original on 6 September 2009. Retrieved 2 February 2009.

v t e State elections in Malaysia
Overall results	1983 1985 1986 1987 1990 1991 1994 1995 1996 1999 2001 2004 2006 2008 2011 2013 2016 2018 2020 2021 2022 2023
Johor	1954 1959 1964 1969 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1995 1999 2004 2008 2013 2018 2022
Kedah	1955 1959 1964 1969 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1995 1999 2004 2008 2013 2018 2023
Kelantan	1955 1959 1964 1969 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1995 1999 2004 2008 2013 2018 2023
Malacca	1955 1959 1964 1969 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1995 1999 2004 2008 2013 2018 2021
Negeri Sembilan	1955 1959 1964 1969 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1995 1999 2004 2008 2013 2018 2023
Pahang	1955 1959 1964 1969 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1995 1999 2004 2008 2013 2018 2022
Penang	1955 1959 1964 1969 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1995 1999 2004 2008 2013 2018 2023
Perak	1955 1959 1964 1969 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1995 1999 2004 2008 2013 2018 2022
Perlis	1955 1959 1964 1969 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1995 1999 2004 2008 2013 2018 2022
Sabah	1964 (indirect) 1967 1971 1976 1981 1985 1986 1990 1994 1999 2004 2008 2013 2018 2020
Sarawak	1959 (indirect) 1963 (indirect) 1969 1974 1979 1983 1987 1991 1996 2001 2006 2011 2016 2021
Selangor	1955 1959 1964 1969 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1995 1999 2004 2008 2013 2018 2023
Terengganu	1954 1959 1964 1969 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1995 1999 2004 2008 2013 2018 2023
Singapore	1963

v t e Elections in Malaysia
Federal	1955 1959 1964 1969 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1995 1999 2004 2008 2013 2018 2022 Next
State	1954 1955 1959 (Malaya) 1959 (Sarawak) 1963 1964 1967 1969 1971 1974 1976 1978 1979 1981 1982 1983 1985 1986 1987 1990 1991 1994 1995 1996 1999 2001 2004 2006 2008 2011 2013 2016 2018 2020 2021 2022 2023
Local	1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965
See also: Federal by-elections State by-elections Elections in Johor Kedah Kelantan Kuala Lumpur Labuan Malacca Negeri Sembilan Pahang Penang Perak Perlis Putrajaya Sabah Sarawak Selangor Terengganu

This page was last edited on 1 May 2024, at 02:15