The election was the 13th state election in the State of Penang since the independence of Malaya (now Malaysia) in 1957. The governing Pakatan Rakyat (PR) had won the previous election in 2008 and sought to secure their second consecutive term in office.

According to the Constitution of the State of Penang, the Penang State Legislative Assembly, the legislature of Penang, has a maximum term of five years, starting from the date of the first sitting of Assembly following a state election.^[6] However, the Chief Minister, as Penang's head of government, may advise the Governor, the head of state, to dissolve the Assembly before the five-year period is up. On 5 April 2013, the Governor of Penang, Abdul Rahman Abbas, gave his consent to the incumbent Chief Minister of Penang, Lim Guan Eng, to dissolve the Assembly.^[1]

A state election must be held within sixty days after the dissolution. The Malaysian Election Commission set 20 April as the nomination day and 5 May as the polling day, providing for a campaigning period of 15 days.^[2]

Political parties edit

The Pakatan Rakyat (PR), the ruling coalition in Penang, was led by the incumbent Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng. In the aftermath of the 2008 state election, the PR controlled 29 out of the 40 seats in the Penang State Legislative Assembly.

The PR was opposed by the Barisan Nasional (BN), which was led by Teng Chang Yeow of Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan).^[7]

Electoral constituencies edit

All 40 state constituencies within Penang, which form the Penang State Legislative Assembly, were contested during the election.

The PR-led Penang state government campaigned by emphasising the administration's achievements during its five-year tenure, including social welfare policies targeted at the needy and its success at cutting the state's public debts by 95%.^[9][10] The latter, along with a sharp increase in foreign direct investments into Penang since 2008, had been acclaimed by Bloomberg, an American news outlet, as "Malaysia's biggest economic success"; the article added that "Penang’s economic resurgence may bolster Pakatan Rakyat’s claim that it can be an alternative to the Barisan Nasional (BN), which has run the country since independence from British rule in 1957".^[11]

The BN, on the other hand, relied conspicuously on financial backing from Jho Low, a Penang-born businessman who was involved with the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a national investment fund established by the Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Razak.^[4][5] Lavish funds were spent on campaigning materiel and events, including free-of-charge public dinners, lucky draws and concerts featuring famous international artistes. Prime Minister Najib also made magnanimous pledges to Penangites in the course of the campaign, such as the construction of 9,999 affordable housing units at Air Itam by 1MDB and a monorail system within Penang.^[12][13]

The BN's campaign excesses became more apparent towards the polling day, with tens of thousands of 1Malaysia and BN flags placed haphazardly across the streets of George Town; in many instances, the blue flags marred the city's landscape.^[8][14] Once again, Jho Low was allegedly behind the production of such an unprecedented amount of flags. The chief of BN in Penang, Teng Chang Yeow, even reportedly plead to Jho Low's men to put up the flags properly, while denying that the BN was responsible for the voluminous amount of BN-linked flags throughout the city.^[15]

Rallies and concerts edit

Both the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and Barisan Nasional (BN) coalitions held rallies, known in Malay as ceramah, throughout Penang during the campaigning period just prior to the polling day. Pakatan Rakyat (PR) rallies, in particular, attracted record-breaking turnouts and generated a sizeable sum of donations. For instance, a PR rally at the Han Chiang College in George Town on 29 April 2013 drew a crowd of 50,000; the key speakers during the rally included Lim Guan Eng, Lim Kit Siang, Karpal Singh and Anwar Ibrahim.^[17][18] A few days later, an even larger PR rally, which was attended by more than 100,000 people, was held at George Town's Esplanade.^[19]

Meanwhile, the BN, learning from its defeat in the previous election, organised a series of sponsored concerts, which were financially funded by Jho Low. The most famous of all was Psy's concert at the Han Chiang College on 11 February, days after the Chinese New Year. Just before Psy appeared on-stage, it was the Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Razak's turn to give a speech. Najib proceeded by repeatedly asking the crowd "Are you ready for Psy?" and the spectators responded "Yes". However, he next asked "Are you ready for BN?", which was met by a resounding "No!" from the crowd.^[3] The spectators also dispersed immediately after Psy finished performing his signature Gangnam Style.^[16] Another concert was held at the same venue on 20 April, featuring international artistes such as Busta Rhymes, Ludacris, Gigi Leung, Alan Tam and Hacken Lee.^[20]

On 23 April 2013, an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded at a Barisan Nasional (BN) rally in Sungai Jawi. The explosion caused no casualty, apart from a BN employee who was slightly injured.^[21] A second bomb, found later at the scene, was safely detonated by the police.

On 24 April, BN-linked mat rempits (motorcycle hooligans) interrupted a Pakatan Rakyat (PR) rally at Gelugor.^[22] A journalist was assaulted by the mat rempits for attempting to take photographs of the incident.

During the polling day on 5 May, a gang of BN extremists gathered at a polling centre at Air Itam and provoked PR supporters, leading to a fistfight between both groups.^[23] More onlookers joined the fight and attacked the BN extremists, causing the BN gang to flee the scene.

The Pakatan Rakyat (PR) emerged from the election in a much stronger position, as it gained one additional constituency - Seberang Jaya - which was won by the People's Justice Party (PKR) candidate, Afif Bahardin; this increased the PR's tally in the Penang State Legislative Assembly to 30 seats. The PR also captured over +2⁄3 of the popular vote in Penang.

This was achieved in spite of Barisan Nasional's massive and lavish campaign to retake Penang. It was speculated that the loss of Seberang Jaya, which had been held by BN's dominant party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), was due to UMNO's choice of candidate.^[8] The BN's popular vote also slipped from 40.96% in the 2008 election to 32.09% in 2013. As with the 2008 election, BN's other component parties, namely Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan), the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), failed to win any seat, leaving UMNO, which won the remaining 10 seats in the Penang State Legislative Assembly, as the state opposition once again.

In 2015, it was revealed that Jho Low, the main financier of Barisan Nasional's failed election campaign, had been involved in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal; Jho allegedly served as BN's senior strategist in Penang, funded free-of-charge public dinners, concerts and lucky draws during the election via the 1Malaysia Penang Welfare Club, and told the BN candidates that his funds would be made available to them upon request.^[4][5] A source from the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), who spoke on the condition of anonymity, commented that "the money was flowing like hell", adding that the funds, which were initially assumed to originate from corporate donors, did not pass through the party's official channels.^[5]

Also in the same year, the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition was disbanded, due to disagreements between the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) and the Democratic Action Party (DAP) over the former's insistence to implement the Islamic penal code, known as hudud, in the State of Kelantan.^[24] In place of the defunct coalition, the DAP and the People's Justice Party (PKR), together with newcomers, the National Trust Party (Amanah) and the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (PPBM), formed the Pakatan Harapan (PH) in 2017; the PH subsequently announced its Penang leadership line-up as well.^[25][26] As a result of the departure of PAS from the PR, the coalition's successor, the PH, retained 29 seats in the Penang State Legislative Assembly just prior to the 2018 State Election, while PAS controlled a single seat - Permatang Pasir - and UMNO the remaining 10 seats.^[27]

• Constituencies of Penang
• Elections in Penang