1976 Sabah state election

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| <- 1971 | 5–14 April 1976 | 1981 ->

|
|

<- outgoing members

elected members ->

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All 48 seats in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly
25 seats needed for a majority
|  | Majority party  | Minority party

|
|

|  |
Leader  | Fuad Stephens | Mustapha Harun
Party  | BERJAYA | USNO
Alliance  | Barisan Nasional (federal)  | Barisan Nasional (federal)
Sabah Alliance (state)
Leader since  | 1975  | 1961
Leader's seat  | Kiulu | Banggi
Last election  | New party | 29 seats
Seats won  | 28  | 20
Seat change  | 28  | 9
Popular vote  | 101,393  | 69,286
Percentage  | 54.10%  | 36.97%

* * *

| Chief Minister before election

Said Keruak
USNO

| Elected Chief Minister

Fuad Stephens
BERJAYA

|

The 1976 Sabah state election was held between Monday, 5 April and Saturday, 14 April 1976. This was the third state election to take place, and the first to feature opposition candidates since the first election on 1967, as the second state election on 1971 has all government candidates won uncontested.[1] The state assembly were dissolved on 23 January 1976,[2][3] and the nomination day was on 18 March 1976.[4]

In the election, Parti Bersatu Rakyat Jelata Sabah (BERJAYA) led by Fuad Stephens, won the election with a majority of 28 seats out of 48 seats in the newly expanded state assembly, and ousted incumbent government United Sabah National Organisation (USNO) from power.[5][6] USNO, who is in coalition with Sabah Chinese Association (SCA) that governs the state for the past 9 years, only won 20 seats while SCA lost all their seats.[6]

## Background and contesting parties

[edit]

BERJAYA was registered only less than a year earlier in July 1975, when some USNO members, dissatisfied with the party's direction under leadership of Mustapha Harun, chose to exit the party and form a new party.[7] BERJAYA applied and successfully joined Barisan Nasional after its registration.[7] They would be later joined by then-Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sabah, Fuad Stephens, who resigned from his position to lead the new party as its president.

Mustapha himself in October 1975 has resigned from his position of Sabah's Chief Minister, a position he had held since USNO won the first state election, though he remained party leader. His deputy, Said Keruak, replaced him and was Chief Minister heading into the 1976 election. USNO also had convincing wins against BERJAYA candidates in two December 1975 state by-elections, in Kuala Kinabatangan and Labuan.[1]

SCA, which was in the Sabah Alliance together with USNO, led by Michael Liaw, also contested in this election.[8] Among other parties contesting were the United Sabah People's Organization, led by Richard E. Lee and Joe Manjaji, as well as the Peninsula-based Malaysian Social Justice Party (PEKEMAS).[8]

Days before nomination day, BERJAYA suffered two setbacks when its secretary-general Mohammad Noor Mansor was detained under Internal Security Act, which made him unable to contest the election[9] with the party nominating his father as the replacement candidate,[9] and, Ghani Gilong, then a federal minister and one of the founders of BERJAYA party as well as its vice president, announced that he was leaving BERJAYA to return to USNO, his former party.[9]

At the time of the assembly's dissolution, out of 32 elected and 6 nominated members of the legislative assembly, Sabah Alliance held 34 seats, BERJAYA three seats and an independent held one.[4]

## Results

[edit]

Party| Votes| %| Seats| +/–

|
|
|
|

| Sabah People's United Front| 101,393| 54.10| 28| New
| United Sabah National Organisation| 69,286| 36.97| 20| –9
| Sabah Chinese Association| 12,075| 6.44| 0| –3
| Malaysian Social Justice Party| 3,044| 1.62| 0| 0
| United Sabah People's Organisation| 83| 0.04| 0| 0
| Independents| 1,527| 0.81| 0| 0
Total| 187,408| 100.00| 48| +16
Source: Han[10]

## Aftermath

[edit]

See also: Double Six Tragedy

After BERJAYA's win in the election, Fuad were sworn in as the new Chief Minister.[11][12][6] But Fuad's tenure would to be short-lived, as he and several of his cabinet ministers died in the helicopter crash on 6 June the same year. Harris Salleh, his deputy, would replace him as Chief Minister.

In April 1978, Mustapha announced his resignation as president of USNO for health reasons and was replaced by his deputy, Said Keruak.[13]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Bill Campbell (1 April 1976). "Big Usno-Berjaya polls battle in Sabah shapes up". The Straits Times. eresources.nlb.gov.sg. p. 5. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
2. ^ "Sabah polls within 90 days". The Straits Times. eresources.nlb.gov.sg. 24 January 1976. pp. 1, 32. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
3. ^ "Early polls for Sabah". New Straits Times via Google News. 23 January 1976. p. 1. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
4. ^ a b Bill Campbell (19 March 1976). "Sabah polls: Tun M files papers". The Straits Times. eresources.nlb.gov.sg. p. 1. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
5. ^ Bill Campbell (15 April 1976). "Shock win by Berjaya". The Straits Times. eresources.nlb.gov.sg. p. 1. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
6. ^ a b c Arkib, Pusat Maklumat dan (16 April 2021). "Parti Berjaya berkuasa di Sabah". Utusan Malaysia (in Malay). Retrieved 6 February 2023.
7. ^ a b Arkib, Pusat Maklumat dan (16 July 2021). "Harris Salleh tubuh parti Berjaya". Utusan Malaysia (in Malay). Retrieved 23 January 2023.
8. ^ a b Bill Campbell (2 April 1976). "When their votes can tilt the power balance". The Straits Times. eresources.nlb.gov.sg. p. 5. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
9. ^ a b c Bill Campbell (18 March 1976). "Father of detained Berjaya leader to contest polls". The Straits Times. eresources.nlb.gov.sg. p. 1. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
10. ^ Han, Sin Fong (1979). "A Constitutional Coup D'Etat: An Analysis of the Birth and Victory of the Berjaya Party in Sabah, Malaysia". Asian Survey. 19 (4): 379–389. doi:10.2307/2643858. JSTOR 2643858.
11. ^ Bill Campbell (16 April 1976). "FUAD TO SELL THOSE B-707s". The Straits Times. eresources.nlb.gov.sg. p. 1. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
12. ^ "Mustapha silent on shock defeat". New Nation (Singapore). eresources.nlb.gov.sg. 15 April 1976. p. 1. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
13. ^ "Mustapha quits as Usno chief for health reasons". The Straits Times. eresources.nlb.gov.sg. AFP. 5 April 1978. p. 21. Retrieved 27 April 2023.

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