The dominant party in BN, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), won 109 seats, a gain of 37.

PAS ran on a platform promising an Islamic state, which turned off many moderate voters.

The DAP won 12 seats and regained the official leadership of the opposition in the national parliament from PAS.

This was a significant turnaround compared to the previous elections, where generally the more "Islamic" candidates had a greater chance of winning in the Malay heartland.

On 2 March, the tenth national parliament and all state assemblies in Malaysia (with the exception of Sarawak) were dissolved by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong upon the advice of the Prime Minister.

PAS won a state assembly seat Senggarang in Johor for the first time, after the National Front candidate was disqualified because she was seconded by someone who was not a registered voter in the constituency that she wanted to contest.

In the seat of Sungai Lembing in state of Pahang, the Keadilan symbol was printed wrongly on the ballot paper for PAS candidate Idris Ahmad.

Illiterate voters tend to rely on familiar party symbols for voting purposes as they are unable to read the candidate's names on the ballot.