Electoral Reform in Malaysia: The Case Study of the Vote18 Constitutional Amendment

This article contributes to the reform politics literature in Malaysia after the end of BN’s political hegemony in 2018. Despite the victory of reform-centric PH government, Vote18 is one of the few major electoral reforms that underwent a successful implementation. Thus, the objective of this article is to identify the factors that enabled the Vote18 reform’s passage, by tracing its trajectory from a student-led democratic movement to its enactment as constitutional law. In doing so, the article aims to identify the key political actors that advanced the reform, the political constraints that shaped its trajectory, and the strategies deployed to overcome the constraints. This article mainly utilizes data extracted from elite interviews conducted with politicians and civil society members, as well as secondary sources such as newspaper articles, books, parliamentary reports and journal articles. The findings of this article are that Vote18 was successfully implemented due to strategic concessions made by PH government to accommodate the Malay-centric opposition bloc’s demands in exchange for their support. These concessions resulted in the introduction of two additional reform, namely, Automatic Voter Registration and Candidate18. The demands are rooted in the preservation of Malay political dominance, particularly in its representation in the electorate. These concerns were that Vote18 would disproportionately encourage voter registration in ethnic minority-dominant urban areas as opposed to the Malay-dominant rural areas.