Malaysian politics and specifically the 14th Malaysian General Election #GE14 were the hottest topics on Twitter this past week or so, as reported by Twitter. Over 7.3 million tweets related to #GE14 were posted during the 1.5-week campaigning period (28 April to 9 May 2018).
Tweets peaked during Election Day, as election day-related conversations overtook all other conversations across the nation. It was reported that over 4.2 million tweets related to #GE14 were sent in the past 24 hours from across Malaysia and the world.
#GE14 took the top spot trending in Malaysia with political topics like #MalaysiaMemilih and #PakatanHarapan taking seven of the top 10 trends in the country.
Check out this heatmap on #GE14
In terms of share of voice, the two political coalitions were neck-to-neck with Pakatan Harapan @pakatanharapan_ garnering 51 percent, while Barisan Nasional @barisanasional taking 49 percent.
Opposition leader Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad @chedetofficial took 58 percent of the share of voice on Twitter, while caretaker Prime Minister Najib Razak @najibrazak took 42 percent.
Twitter was abuzz as Malaysians and people across the world tuned in to watch the #MalaysiaElection unfold live in real-time.
Undoubtedly the most epic, nail-biting and controversial election ever, the battle for Malaysia finally ended with a shocking Pakatan Harapan victory. The unexpected opposition alliance victory ended the reign of the governing Barisan Nasional coalition, which has been in power for 61 years.
Following the historic victory of Pakatan Harapan, Tun Mahathir was sworn in as the 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia. It’s Tun Mahathir’s second stint as premier, having first taken the helm in 1981 and subsequently serving till 2003. The 92-year old now holds the distinction of the world’s oldest serving head of government.
Follow this Twitter Moment of tweets around the election, and a selection of the most engaged-with tweets from people in Malaysia.
https://twitter.com/i/moments/994315165368807424
It’s a new dawn for Malaysia. Well done, Malaysians!
Header image: Borneo Post
