Malaysia's ruling Barisan Nasional (National Front) faces its worst results in general elections in 40 years, losing its two-thirds majority in the federal parliament and control of several states.
Saturday's elections to the parliament and state assemblies were widely seen as a referendum on the rule of Abdullah Badawi, the prime minister.
The opposition has claimed victory in five states - Penang, Kedah, Kelantan, Selangor and Perak - in addition to capturing at least one-third of the seats in federal parliament.
Results were still being tallied by the election commission as of Sunday.
Experts say Badawi's continued leadership could be in jeopardy if the National Front's majority falls back below 80 per cent, or around 178 seats, in the new 222-seat parliament.
A two-thirds majority is needed to change the constitution.
In the last election in 2004, the National Front won nearly 64 per cent of the vote and more than 90 per cent of the seats in the lower house of parliament.
Opposition wins
The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) claimed surprise wins in Kedah and Perak while beating out the ruling coalition in the PAS stronghold in the northeastern state of Kelantan.
Early results showed that the Chinese-backed Democratic Action Party (DAP) won Penang, an industrial state that is home to many multinational firms.
Koh Tsu Koon, Penang's iincumbent chief minister, said: "This is the biggest defeat ever since our (party's) founding 40 years ago. I feel sad and surprised.
"I urge all Barisan Nasional members to stay calm and not to take any action that could jeopardise peace and security in the state."
Setbacks for the National Front are being attributed to price rises, ethnic tensions and concerns over corruption.
Large crowds had flocked to opposition rallies during the campaign, especially ethnic Chinese and Indian voters unhappy with the National Front government, dominated by politicians from the Muslim majority of ethnic Malays.
Ethnic Chinese and Indians make up about one-third of the population and many complain of discrimination by the government in favour of Malays, in terms of education, jobs, financial assistance and religious policy.
In 1969, after the National Front suffered a major electoral setback, race riots broke out in which hundreds of people were killed and a two-year state of emergency followed.
Election unrest
Scattered incidents of violence were reported from different parts of the country on Saturday.
In the northeastern Terengganu state, police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd of 300 opposition supporters.
Twenty-two people were arrested after throwing stones at buses, allegedly carrying people they feared would cast bogus votes.
PAS supporters stopped several buses and cars which they suspected were transporting National Front supporters pretending to be voters from the district.
Musa Hassan, a local police chief, said: "The PAS supporters threw stones at police vehicles, forcing the police to release tear gas to control the situation."
Vote rigging
The elections have been tainted by allegations of vote-rigging.
Anwar Ibrahim, a prominent opposition figure, condemned allegations of vote rigging.
"We need to teach these cheaters a lesson, by coming in big numbers, enough to deny them, and thwart their plans to rig the vote," he said.
After casting his vote, Nik Aziz Nik Mat, the PAS leader, said his supporters had found a member of the main ruling party in possession of 28 identity cards for use in electoral fraud.
Electoral flaws
Earlier, Tricia Yeoh from the Centre for Public Policy Studies told Al Jazeera that Saturday's election would be drastically different to the last.
"There has been, in the past four years, an increasing disquiet in almost all sectors of society," she said.
"This is due to a number of reasons ... the failure of the administration to curb corruption [AND] the growing income disparity between different societies in Malaysia."
Yeoh said Malaysia's electoral system is in need of reform because of conditions that are unfavourable towards the opposition.
"There is media bias. You have gerrymandering and non-transparent administration procedures," she said.
Al Jazeera
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