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 has an electoral roll of count of 892,537 but with two uncontested seats, total voters in contested constituencies is 873,703.Polling In Sarawak State Election Completed . (20 May 2006). BERNAMA.

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.Background of Sarawak politics. BERNAMA. URL accessed on 20 May 2006

Barisan Nasional fielded candidates for all 71 seats: 35 seats by United Traditional Bumiputera Party (PBB) 19 seats by Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) 9 seats by Sarawak Peoples Party (PRS) 8 seats by Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP)

A total of 29 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. Percentage figures based on total turnout, including votes for third parties. Results before 1986 election unavailable.

Background Sarawak is the largest state in Malaysia, comprising 124,450 square kilometers, almost as large as the Malay Peninsula. In 1963, Sarawak and Sabah together with the Federation of Malaya formed a greater federation named Malaysia. Since then, Sarawak nationalism dominates in every state election. The people of Sarawak generally resented the control of the Malay Peninsula on Sarawak affairs such as autonomy in decision making, dissatisfaction over the 5% allocation of oil royalty to Sarawak, and the tendencies to support local parties in Sarawak.

Since rural areas dominated Sarawak lands, the control over the rural areas is essential for electoral successes. In the 1990s, deforestation in Sarawak became a major issue whereby logging companies with close political ties to the regime were given large amount of concessions for logging. As the source of timber in Sarawak forests became depleted, oil palm plantations became a priority. The Sarawak government had encroached on the Native customary rights (NCR) lands to convert them into state lands for logging, plantations, and infrastructure developments. In return, the government promised infrastructure projects that can benefit the rural community. However, tenders for the infrastructure projects were also awarded according to party lines. Poverty in the rural areas had fostered dependence on government handouts, thus rural communities showed more loyalty to the government when compared to urban areas.

Sarawak is ethnically diverse. The Iban people is the largest group, followed by Chinese, Malay, Melanau people, Bidayuh, and Orang Ulu. The Ibans are primarily located in rural areas, the Chinese is primarily located in the urban areas; Bidayuh was traditionally rural but has been increasingly urbanised. Since the 1970s, the chief minister of Sarawak traditionally come from Melanau ethnic group. Similar to Peninsular Malaysia, delineation of constituencies and campaign issues are organised along racial lines.

Electoral system Since formation of Malaysia in 1963, Sarawak has hold nine state elections. Since 1979, Sarawak hold state elections separately from the national parliamentary elections. Thus, Sarawak elections become a measure of support of the incumbent government before the next Malaysian general elections. Malaysian electoral system uses the first-past-the-post voting system, where winners take all. Therefore, Sarawak BN consistently won greater proportion of seats than the share of popular vote. Election Commission of Malaysia (EC) had been alleged to be politically aligned with the incumbent government since 1961. The chairman of EC is appointed by the incumbent government and is answerable to the Malaysian prime minister department.

Nomination The Sarawak State Legislative Assembly was dissolved by chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud. The nomination date was set on 9 May 2006 with campaign period set from 10 to 19 May. This election also saw larger number of women candidates being fielded by both government and opposition parties. BN nominated six women candidates while the opposition slated four women candidates. BN has introduced 18 new faces in the election.

There were only a total of 892,537 registered voters in this election, which was less than a third of the 2.5 million total population in Sarawak.

Out of 71 seats, only 69 seats saw contests between various candidates. Two seats – namely Daro and Dalat – were won uncontested by candidates from Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu, a component party in Barisan Nasional.

Parties and leaders Government Sarawak Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition and its predecessor Alliance has been securing decisive victories in every state elections since the formation of Malaysia. Sarawak is also one of the five states in Malaysia where the governing BN coalition secured more than 90% of the seats in almost every election. Other states are: Malacca, Perlis, Negeri Sembilan, and Johor. Sarawak BN consists of entirely local parties: United Traditional Bumiputera Party (PBB), Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP), Sarawak Peoples Party (PRS), and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP). Sarawak chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud is the president of PBB. He is also the chairman of Sarawak BN. His party consists of Malay-Melanau party members. SUPP is predominantly Chinese, although the party also has several Iban members. PRS is the combination of Iban and Chinese members while SPDP is predominantly Iban. Both PRS and SPDP are either direct or indirect splinter parties from Sarawak National Party (SNAP).

Opposition Sarawak National Party (SNAP) was a component party in Sarawak BN in 2001. However, in 2002, SNAP was grippled by a leadership crisis. It was later deregistered by the Malaysian Registrar of Societies (ROS) on 5 November 2002 due to the persistent unresolved leadership crisis. The party then filed a judicial review against the ROS decision. The review was dismissed by the High Court in September 2006. During the 2002 SNAP crisis, Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) was formed and admitted into Sarawak BN. SNAP then departed from BN and became an opposition party in 2004. In the same year, another component party of Sarawak BN, Parti Bangsa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS), which was a splinter party from SNAP in 1983, faced a leadership crisis and was deregistered. Sarawak Peoples Party (PRS) was formed later and admitted into Sarawak BN.

Amongst all the opposition parties in Sarawak, only Democratic Action Party (DAP) has a seat in Kidurong since 2001 election. DAP had left Barisan Alternatif (BA) before the 2001 election. It has reached an informal agreement with People's Justice Party (PKR) for the latter to contest at Padungan in return for not contesting against DAP in 2004 Malaysian general election.

Meanwhile, People's Justice Party (PKR) together with Sarawak National Party (SNAP) teamed up to form the Sarawak United Front (Barisan Bersatu Sarawak, BBS). Malaysian Dayak Congress (MDC), being one of the two parties split from the deregistered PBDS in 2004, was awaiting for registration approval from ROS. Therefore, BBS had allowed candidates from MDC to use SNAP party symbol to contest in this election. Meanwhile, Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) decided to contest in only one seat in view of voters base in Sarawak mainly consists of non-Muslims.

Most of the seats saw two corner fights with the agreement of the opposition on not contesting against each other. The number of independent candidates also dropped from the last election where only 15 seats saw the participation of the independent candidates.

Campaign Barisan Nasional The BN government lifted the ban of helicopter flights to ease the dissemination of manifestos in the rural areas. Sarawak BN mainly campaigned on theme of "development and stability" with messages such as "A Peaceful, Progressive and Prosperous Sarawak". BN put heavy emphasis on rural development in terms on agricultural expansion such as palm oil, pepper, and cocoa. It is stressed that continued rural development is depended upon the rural voters' political loyalty. For example, chief minister Taib Mahmud had spoken the following words to the voters at Bekenu:

Sarawak government allocated projects under the SALCRA agency (Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority) in rural areas. Rural Growth Centres (RGC) were also opened throughout Sarawak. These centres were aimed to "create job opportunities and income". A total of RM 2.12 billion (US$0.57 billion) would be allocated exclusively for rural development. BN also linked Ninth Malaysia Plan to Sarawak development. The Malaysian federal government allocated RM 13.4 billion (US$3.62 billion) to win support in this campaign. For example, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Peter Chin announced his plans of boosting cocoa and pepper production in Sarawak. Awang Tengah, a senior politician from Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) highlighated the RM400 million (US$108 million) allocation for Rural Electrification Scheme (RES) in Sarawak. Samy Vellu, Malaysian Minister of Works announced allocations for upgrading Mambong-Sejingkat road (Kuching), Miri-Lutong road (Miri), Limbang-Lawas road, and an elevated road in Miri.

A PBB leader named Abdul Wahab Aziz stressed that Mukah and Balingian only got development when Taib Mahmud represented Balingian since 2001. Since the discovery of coal in Mukah, a coal power plant was built in Balingian, an oil palm plantation was planted in Mukah, and a deep sea fishing port was built at Tanjung Manis. In Ba'kelalan (near Indonesian border of Kalimantan), BN candidate Nelson Balang emphasised regarding the risk of them being left behind for 10 to 20 years if they do not vote for BN in the next five years. The issue of connectivity of Ba'kelalan to other towns in Sarawak had also been highlighted. A road project was also politicised in Bekenu (near Miri). Besides, BN also emphasized on the importance of political stability in bringing developments to the people while saying the opposition only bring chaos to the community. Politicians from BN coalition also argued that supporting BN is also necessary in maintaining Sarawak's autonomy in decision making and with local leaders in control because Sarawak BN are consisted of local parties. A vote for the opposition will let Peninsular Malaysia to have more control over Sarawak. This election was also portrayed as the last election for the chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud. The election day coincidentally fell on the date of his birthday. Therefore, Sarawak BN regularly featured a headline read as "Give CM special birthday gift" on newspapers.

Opposition parties