[2][3] The prospect of snap elections had been considered high due to the political crisis that had been ongoing since 2020; political instability caused by coalition or party switching among members of Parliament, combined with the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, contributed to the resignation of two prime ministers and the collapse of each of their respective coalition governments since the 2018 general elections.

[4] However, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King of Malaysia), Abdullah of Pahang, dissolved parliament at the request of Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob on 10 October 2022.

[10] Results for 220 out of all 222 contested seats in the Dewan Rakyat were announced by the morning of 20 November 2022, although polling in the constituency of Padang Serai was postponed until 7 December due to the death of the Pakatan Harapan candidate, Karuppaiya Muthusamy, three days before the elections.

Pakatan Harapan remained the coalition with the most seats in the Dewan Rakyat albeit with a reduced share, with its largest losses in Kedah.

Incumbent Finance Minister and Senator Tengku Zafrul Aziz failed to win a seat in the Dewan Rakyat for Kuala Selangor by a slim majority, as well as the son-in-law of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who is also the Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin also failed to defeat the Pakatan Harapan candidate by a slim majority too in Sungai Buloh.

In July 2019, the Constitution (Amendment) Act 2019, which contained provisions to lower the voting age to 18 and allow for the automatic registration of voters, was enacted by Parliament.

[26] Since losing re-election in 2018, former prime minister Najib Razak was put on trial, convicted and imprisoned in relation to the 1MDB scandal.

[30][31] A political crisis began in Malaysia in early 2020, leading to the resignation of two prime ministers and significant shifts in parliament over the subsequent two years.

[34][35][36] In June 2022, Ismail Sabri said he would not delay the dissolution of parliament, amid continued pressure from his party UMNO to hold a general election as soon as possible.

As Malaysia follows the Westminster system of government, the head of government (Prime Minister at the federal level and the Chief Ministers, the so-called Menteri Besar, at the state level) is the person who commands the confidence of the majority of members in the respective legislature – this is normally the leader of the party or coalition with the majority of seats in the legislature.

In July 2019, the Constitution (Amendment) Act 2019 was enacted that provided for the voting age to be lowered to 18 and for automatic registration of voters.

[40] The 14th Parliament of Malaysia was dissolved on 10 October 2022, during a special televised address by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, following an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Abdullah, a day prior, whereby he provided consent for the dissolution.

[41] The Constitution of Malaysia requires that a general election be held in the fifth calendar year after the first sitting unless it is dissolved earlier by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong following a motion of no confidence, loss of supply or a request by the prime minister.

[63] In addition, several high-profile incumbent UMNO MPs, including Shahidan Kassim, Annuar Musa and Tajuddin Abdul Rahman, were dropped from contesting following rumors after they were believed to be supporting Ismail Sabri instead of Zahid Hamidi.

[69] One of the most anticipated seats, Gombak, saw Selangor's Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari nominated as PH candidate to face incumbent Azmin Ali,[70] who was one of the key ringleaders of the ongoing political crisis.

[73] Meanwhile, DAP had dropped two of its incumbent MPs, Charles Santiago and Wong Tack from their respective parliamentary seats,[74] in place of younger candidates,[75][76] leading both to question the party's reasoning behind their droppings,[77] with Wong later announcing his intention to defend his seat as an independent candidate,[78] thus also resulting in his expulsion from the party.

[84] Subsequently, PN candidate for the Tioman state seat in Pahang, Yunus Ramli died hours before polling was due to begin on 19 November.

[90] In September 2022, Pakatan formally decided to consider applications by MUDA and the Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) to contest under its name.

[91] Pakatan chairman Anwar Ibrahim later stated that the coalition would form an electoral pact with the two parties, citing that the application process would need to go through the Registrar of Societies.

[98] In August 2022, Pejuang formed a Malay/Muslim-based coalition called as Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) with 4 other parties (Berjasa, Putra, Gagasan Bangsa and IMAN) and planned to contest 120 parliamentary seats.

GPS postponed any coalition and government formation talks until after election and claimed to maintain the status quo of seat allocation.

[111] By June 2022 PBK made negotiations with Sarawakian local opposition parties such as PSB, Aspirasi, PBDS (Baru) and SEDAR to avoid clashes in the election without formally forming a coalition.

[122] Opposition politicians, political analysts and online commentaries criticised the decision to hold the election at the end of 2022 instead of early 2023, which coincides the annual year-end monsoon season.

[135][136] Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said he dissolved Parliament because it was impossible to go on some issues, and that UMNO was pushing for it ever since BN won big in the 2022 Johor state election in March.

[26] The seats of Gerik and Batu Sapi were left vacant due to the deaths of their respective MPs, Hasbullah Osman (BN-UMNO) and Liew Vui Keong (WARISAN) in 2020.

[142] In the general election, no individual alliance won the required 112 seats needed for a majority in the Dewan Rakyat to form the next government.

[204] On 20 November, In a press conference at around 3:00 a.m. Pakatan Harapan (PH) leader Anwar Ibrahim claimed to have secured a simple majority of 111 seats a to form the next government, but refused to mention which other parties were cooperating.

This came not long after Perikatan Nasional chairman Muhyiddin Yassin hinted at being able to form a coalition government but rejected working with PH.

[213][214] After the meeting, Muhyiddin said that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong proposed a unity government between Pakatan Harapan and Perikatan National, but Muhyiddin rejected it as Perikatan National "will not cooperate" with Pakatan Harapan; while Anwar acknowledged that the prime minister had yet to be determined, while stating that "given time, I think we will secure a simple majority".

[218] On 24 November, Ahmad Maslan of UMNO stated that the party's supreme council has agreed to follow the wishes of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for BN to join a unity government not led by PN.