[1] It was officially formed on 23 November 2006 as a joint communiqué that comprised leaders from political parties, civil society groups and NGOs.

[2] Bersih accused the Election Commission under Prime Minister's Department[3] for manipulating the electoral process to give an unfair advantage to the ruling National Front coalition.

Bersih claimed that the electoral roll was marred by irregularities such as gerrymandering, phantom voters, malapportionment and postal vote frauds.

[citation needed] On 10 November 2007, Bersih organised the first rally with 10,000 to 40,000 turnout and held a public demonstration at Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur.

The rally was often credited for the shift in political landscape in 2008 general election, when the incumbent Barisan Nasional coalition failed to obtain a two-thirds supermajority for the first time since 1969.

In the following year September 2006, an Electoral Reform Workshop was held in Kuala Lumpur whereby the various leaders from political parties, civil society groups and NGOs, including Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Lim Guan Eng, PAS, Nasharudin Mat Isa, Teresa Kok, Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud among others, came together to formulate a joint communiqué.

[8] After being granted an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to discuss the issue, Bersih subsequently agreed on 5 July 2011 to move the rally from the streets to Stadium Merdeka.

Following the Bersih 2.0 demonstration, the Malaysian government set up Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on 2 October 2011 to respond to the electoral issues.

In particular, it was joined by Himpunan Hijau (Green Assembly), a civil movement protesting the Lynas rare earth project in Malaysia.

[13] A tribunal was organised by Bersih on 18–21 September 2013 in regards to the general elections that was held on 5 May 2013, whereby invited witnesses gave testimonies on the irregularities and incidents of fraud.

[18] The gathering places for the rally should be located at Brickfields, Pasar Seni, Dataran Maybank, National Mosque, and Sogo shopping mall, according to the Bersih 2.0 chairperson.