List of political parties in Malaysia

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This is a list of political parties in Malaysia, including existing and historical ones.

Legislation

Under the current legislation, all political parties (termed "Political Associations") must be registered under the Societies Act.

Anti-hopping parties law

In Malaysian politics, a frog (Malay: katak politik) (Sabahan: Buhangkut politik) refers to an act where a politician crosses the bench from one party to another (changing support).^[1] This term was first coined during the 1994 Sabah state elections after United Sabah Party losing its majority even the party won the state elections. Despite its usage nationwide, it is more familiar within the state of Sabah.^[2] Since May 25, 2023, nine states of Malaysia has approved the "Anti-Switching Parties Law" or "Anti-Hopping Parties Law" for both states legislative assembly and parliament including Sabah and Sarawak.^[3]

Election expenses

The Election Offences Act 1954 regulates the maximum expenses allowed for candidates vying for parliamentary seats and for state seats during the campaign period (excluding before the nomination day and after election day). The permissible campaign expenditure set by the Election Offences Act (1954) is RM 100,000 per candidate for state seats and RM 200,000 per candidate for federal seats. According to this guideline, with 505 state seats and 222 parliamentary seats in the 2013 general election, the maximum amount that Barisan Nasional was allowed to spend was only about RM 95 million. Due to the lack of records and regulations, Malaysian politicians may not even know how much they spent on their campaigns or overspending the expenditure than permitted by law. Another related problem was the secrecy surrounding political funds and their use. Although many politicians, including members of newly appointed cabinets, voluntarily disclosed their personal finances, such disclosure is not compulsory and many sources of revenue remain obscure.

Election deposits

The deposit was RM 10,000 to contest a parliamentary seat, or RM 5,000 to contest a state assembly seat. The deposit is used to pay for infringements of election laws and is returned after polling day unless the candidate loses and fails to garner more than 12.5 per cent or one-eighth of the votes cast. Additionally it is required that each candidate provide a RM 5,000 deposit for cleaning up banners and posters after the election.

Political donations

Political donations are legal in Malaysia. There is no limit, and parties are not obliged to disclose the source of the funding, which makes political donations a vague subject but still entirely legal in the country. All political donations are allowed to be given into accounts of individuals and accounts of the political party. Anonymous donors and foreigners may request not to reveal their identities.

Political parties are funded by contributions from:

party members and individual supporters (via membership fees/dues/subscriptions and/or local/foreign small donations),
organisations, which share their political views (e.g. by trade union affiliation fees) or which stand to benefit from their activities (e.g. by local/foreign corporate donations) or
taxpayers respectively the general revenue fund (by grants that are called state aid, government or public funding).

Latest election results

Currently active parties

Parties represented in the Parliament and/or the state legislative assemblies

This is the list of coalitions and parties that have representation in the Parliament of Malaysia (Dewan Rakyat & Dewan Negara) and/or the state legislative assemblies, sorted by seats held in the Dewan Rakyat, the lower house of the Parliament of Malaysia. Unless noted, numbers exclude independents and loose allies linked to each party

More information Coalition and Party, Abbr ...

Coalition and Party		Abbr	Leader	Ideology	Position	Dewan Rakyat	Dewan Negara	State Assemblies	Vote share (2022)	Federal government
	Pakatan Harapan Alliance of Hope^[A]	PH	Anwar Ibrahim	Progressivism Reformism Social liberalism Social democracy	Centre-left to left-wing	77 / 222	20 / 70	126 / 607	37.00%	Government
	Perikatan Nasional National Alliance^[B]	PN	Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar	Religious nationalism National conservatism	Right-wing to far-right	68 / 222	8 / 70	204 / 607	30.04%	Opposition
	Barisan Nasional National Front	BN	Ahmad Zahid Hamidi	Conservatism	Centre-right to right-wing	30 / 222	13 / 70	128 / 607	22.24%	Government
	Gabungan Parti Sarawak Sarawak Parties Alliance	GPS	Abang Johari	Sarawak nationalism Conservatism	Centre-right to right-wing	23 / 222	7 / 70	79 / 607	4.26%	Government
	Gabungan Rakyat Sabah Sabah People's Coalition^[C]	GRS	Hajiji Noor	Sabah nationalism Conservatism	Centre to centre-right	7 / 222	3 / 70	36 / 607	1.03%	Government
	Parti Warisan Heritage Party	Warisan	Shafie Apdal	Progressivism Multiracialism Nationalism	Centre	3 / 222	0 / 70	25 / 607	1.93%	Government
	Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat Social Democratic Harmony Party	KDM	Priscella Peter	Sabah regionalism Populism	Centre	2 / 222	0 / 70	1 / 607	0.34%	Government
	Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku Homeland Solidarity Party ^[E]	STAR	Jeffrey Kitingan	Sabah regionalism	Centre	1 / 222	1 / 70	2 / 505	0.19%	Government
	Malaysian United Democratic Alliance Ikatan Demokratik Malaysia^[F]	MUDA	Amira Aisya Abdul Aziz	Social democracy	Centre-left	1 / 222	0 / 70	0 / 607	0.48%	Opposition
	Parti Bangsa Malaysia Malaysian Nation Party	PBM	Larry Sng	Multiracialism	Centre-left	1 / 222	0 / 70	0 / 607	0.11%	Government
^A Excludes the United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation, which was part of the coalition in the 2022 election but subsequently left in 2025. ^B The coalition contested seats in Kelantan and Terengganu using the symbol of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party while other states were contested using the symbol of the coalition. ^C Excludes the Homeland Solidarity Party and Sabah Progressive Party, which were part of the coalition in the 2022 election but subsequently left in 2025. ^D The party was taken over by former Bersatu/Perikatan Nasional members.^[4] ^E The party contested as a part of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah but withdrew from the coalition before the 2025 Sabah state election.^[5] ^F The party contested in an electoral pact with Pakatan Harapan.

Coalitions and electoral pacts

Pakatan Harapan (PH, Alliance of Hope)

The list is sorted by the year in which the respective parties were legalised and registered with the Registrar of Societies (ROS).