COMMENT | Voting in Malaysia’s 15th general election (GE15) was one of the most ethnically polarised in history, while simultaneously reflecting significant electoral swings across almost all of the country’s ethnic communities.

This seven-part series looks at ethnic voting patterns - turnout and coalition support - in last year’s November polls.

The findings, which will be discussed in more detail over the next week, show a dynamic and changing electorate, one no longer beholden to traditional loyalties to political parties to the same degree as in the past.

The changes are not just among the young (generation voting is for another series); with greater democracy, the Covid crisis, and political instability, transformative shifts are taking place in electoral politics “from below” even as there are new elite alliances and different options for voters to choose from.

Major national findings

In the first of this series, this introductory piece, I highlight the broad national findings on ethnic voting trends, explain the methodology used, and, importantly, the limits of the methodology.

Let me stress from the outset that the election results from four months ago...