A final tally of votes after recounts in several seats showed that the ruling Barisan Nasional won a huge majority of 198 of the 219 parliamentary seats in Sunday's elections.

The new official opposition is the Chinese-based DAP, which took 12 seats, up from 10 in the last parliament.

The former official opposition, the Islamic party PAS, won just seven seats, down from 26 previously.

The Parti Keadilan Rakyat (Keadilan), retained the seat of Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, wife of jailed ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, but lost the other four it held in the last parliament.

One seat went to an independent in Sabah.

The BN, headed by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, also holds 12 state governments, with PAS retaining power in it's northern stronghold of Kelantan. BN wrestled Terengganu from PAS this time around. - AFP