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All 71 seats in the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly 36 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Registered | 892,537 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Turnout | 552,350 (61.89%) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The ninth Sarawak state election was held on Saturday, 20 May 2006 with nomination day on Tuesday, 9 May 2006. The election functioned to elect 71 representatives to the Sarawak State Assembly (Dewan Undangan Negeri in Malay). The eighth state assembly was dissolved by Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sarawak, Tun Abang Muhammad Salahuddin Abang Barieng by the advice of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, on 24 April 2006.
On nomination day, Barisan Nasional won two seats without contest.
This election saw 892,537 voters eligible to cast their ballots.[1]
The previous state election was held in 2001, when the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) won 60 out of 62 seats in the eighth state assembly. The Democratic Action Party won one, while another went to an independent candidate. The eighth state assembly's mandate would expire on 18 November 2006, necessitating the calling of an election beforehand.[2]
Barisan Nasional fielded candidates for all 71 seats:
A total of 28 seats was contested by Sarawak National Party (SNAP), followed by People's Justice Party (PKR) (25 seats), Democratic Action Party (DAP) (12 seats), and Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (1 seat). There were 20 independents contesting for 16 seats.[3]