Die 11. nationalen Wahlen in Malaysia. Semi-kompetitive Wahlen, Konfliktlinien und Demokratisierungsblockaden

Abstract At the beginning of this article, the basic patterns of the Malaysian political party system are outlined with reference to the cleavage model of Lipset and Rokkan. The three most important lines dividing the largely ethnically based political parties are those between secularism and political Islam, moderate Islam and Islamism, and reformers and status quo forces. The main part of the
paper then focuses on the national elections of March 2004 which are conceptualized as semi-competitive. Here, the major political developments and
issues prior to the polls are described as well as party platforms, coalition
building, campaigning, the legal framework and, finally, the results at federal
and state level. The analysis helps to elucidate the basic mechanisms of the semi-democratic system as a whole. Finally, the peculiar overlapping and crosscutting of cleavages as mirrored in the party system is shown to be the main reason for the blocking of political reforms in Malaysia.