A bloody nose and all ...

It turned out that, rather than a routine win for BN like in 2004, the ruling party of Malaysia, BN (Barisan National) got a bloody nose in its fight with the Opposition parties in the March 08 2008 general election. The two-third majority that BN thought they could achieve again was not attained. Instead, it was the opposition - PAS, DAP, and PKR - who got more than a third of the Parliamentary seats and in the process won 5 states or 6 if you include the Federal Territories.

My pre-election forecast for myself was that the opposition would win in Kelantan, Trengganu, Penang, Kedah, and Perlis. The actual result was Kelantan, Kedah, Penang, Selangor, Perak, and the Federal Territories. My biggest surprise was when Syahrizat, an able MP and Minister, lost to a woman hardly out of her teen, Nur Izzah, the daughter of Anwar Ibrahim. 

Such is the nature of an election this time around.