Dewan Rakyat

House of Representatives

Dewan Rakyat
House of Representatives ; Dewan Rakyat
15th Parliament
Type
Type	Lower house of the Parliament of Malaysia
Leadership
Speaker	Johari Abdul, PH-PKR ; since 19 December 2022
Deputy Speaker I	Ramli Mohd Nor, BN-UMNO ; since 19 December 2022
Deputy Speaker II	Alice Lau, PH-DAP ; since 19 December 2022
Secretary	Nizam Mydin Bacha Mydin ; since 13 May 2020
Prime Minister	Anwar Ibrahim, PH-PKR ; since 24 November 2022
Deputy Prime Minister I	Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, BN-UMNO ; since 3 December 2022
Deputy Prime Minister II	Fadillah Yusof, GPS-PBB ; since 3 December 2022
Leader of the Opposition	Hamzah Zainudin, PN-BERSATU ; since 10 December 2022
Structure
Seats	222
Political groups	(As of 24 January 2024) Government (147); PH (81) DAP (40); PKR (31); AMANAH (8); UPKO (2); BN (30) UMNO (26); MCA (2); MIC (1); PBRS (1); GPS (23) PBB (14); PRS (5); PDP (2); SUPP (2); GRS (6) Direct member (4); PBS (1); STAR (1); WARISAN (3) KDM (1) PBM (1) Independent (2) Confidence and supply (6); PN (6) BERSATU (6); Opposition (69); PN (68) PAS (43); BERSATU (25); MUDA (1)
Committees	5 Committee of Selection; Public Accounts Committee; House Committee; Committee of Privileges; Standing Orders Committee;
Length of term	Up to 5 years
Elections
Voting system	First-past-the-post
Last election	19 November 2022
Next election	By 17 February 2027
Meeting place
	Dewan Rakyat chamber; Malaysian Houses of Parliament,; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Website
	Official website

The Dewan Rakyat (English: 'House of Representatives'; lit. 'People's Assembly') is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament, the federal legislature of Malaysia. The chamber and its powers are established by Article 44 of the Constitution of Malaysia. The Dewan Rakyat sits in the Houses of Parliament in Kuala Lumpur, along with the Dewan Negara, the upper house.

The Dewan Rakyat is a directly elected body consisting of 222 members known as Members of Parliament (MPs). Members are elected by first-past-the-post voting with one member from each federal constituency. Members hold their seats until the Dewan Rakyat is dissolved, the term of which is constitutionally limited to five years after an election. The number of seats each state or territory is entitled to is fixed by Article 46 of the Constitution.

While the concurrence of both chambers of Parliament is normally necessary for legislation to be enacted, the Dewan Rakyat holds significantly more power in practice; the Dewan Negara very rarely rejects bills that have been passed by the Dewan Rakyat and the Dewan Rakyat can bypass the Dewan Negara if it refuses to pass a specific law twice, with at least one year in between. The Cabinet is solely responsible to the Dewan Rakyat, and the prime minister only has to maintain the support of the lower house.