Since 1969, when the opposition parties won a total of 57 out of the 144 seats to the Parliament, they had never been able to prevent the Barisan from getting a two-third or higher majority. The opposition saw this election as the best opportunity it would have, not only in denying the ruling coalition the two-third majority, but in wresting power from it. In the words of the DAP leader, this was “an unprecedented historic opportunity to effect far-reaching meaningful changes to the political order in the country”. The opposition estimated that a 12 per cent swing away from the Barisan would have the effect of preventing the government from getting the two-third majority and if the swing was to be more substantial, to the amount of 20 per cent, then the opposition coalitions would have been able to get enough seats in Parliament to form a new government. The optimism of the opposition was boosted by the fact that in this election, its votes would not be split as happened in past elections. In the state elections, the opposition felt that its best chances of winning control of the state legislatures were in Penang and the east coast states. Though the opposition as a whole made substantial gains, the results of the elections did not live up to expectations. However, an examination of the parties' performance showed significant differences in their gains and losses.

The DAP : Maintaining Its Ground

In the 1990 election, the DAP fielded fewer candidates than it did in 1986, primarily to give way to its ally, Semangat '46. This was particularly so in areas where the party was weak. Only 57 candidates were put up for the parliamentary election compared with 64 previously. On the whole, the party was able to repeat its good performance of the previous election. In the parliamentary election, it won 20 seats, four less than it did in 1986.