14 Facts About Barisan Nasional

Barisan Nasional coalition employs the same inter-communal governing model of its predecessor the Alliance Party but on a wider scale, with up to 14 communal political parties involved in the coalition at one point.

On 15 August 2021, Barisan Nasional returned to power, leading a government with the support of Perikatan Nasional and four other parties.

Barisan Nasional is the direct successor to the three-party Alliance coalition formed of United Malays National Organisation, Malaysian Chinese Association, and Malaysian Indian Congress.

The Barisan Nasional, which included regional parties from Sabah and Sarawak, registered in June 1974 as a coalition of nine parties.

In 1977, PAS was expelled from Barisan Nasional following a revolt by PAS within the Kelantan state legislature against a chief minister appointed by the federal government.

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Barisan Nasional nevertheless won the 1978 general election convincingly, and it continued to dominate Malaysian politics in the 1980s and 1990s despite some losses in state elections, such as the loss of Kelantan to PAS, and Sabah to United Sabah Party which later joined Barisan Nasional.

Finally, during the 2018 general election, Barisan Nasional lost control of the parliament to Pakatan Harapan, winning a total of only 79 parliamentary seats.

Barisan Nasional was only in power in three states; namely Perlis, Pahang and Sarawak.

Since 2019, Barisan Nasional recovered some ground and won a number of by-elections, such as the 2019 Cameron Highlands by-election, 2019 Semenyih by-election, 2019 Rantau by-election, and 2019 Tanjung Piai by-election.

Barisan Nasional continued to function as a coalition of four parties comprising UMNO, MCA, MIC and PBRS, but aligned themselves with Perikatan Nasional to form a new government in March 2020 after the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government.

Barisan Nasional recovered control of the Johor, Malacca and Perak state governments.

On 20 November 2021, Barisan Nasional won a two-thirds majority of 21 out of 28 seats in the Malacca State Legislative Assembly.

On 12 March 2022, Barisan gained a landslide victory in the 2022 Johor state election, allowing it form the much more stable Johor state government with a two-thirds majority in the Johor State Legislative Assembly, which is 40 out of 56 seats while defeating Pakatan Harapan with 12 seats, Perikatan Nasional with 3 seats and Malaysian United Democratic Alliance with 1 seat.

In 2013, the vast majority of Barisan Nasional's seats were held by its two largest Bumiputera-based political parties—the United Malays National Organisation, and Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu.