Abstract: In the 2006 Sarawak 9th state elections, Barisan Nasional (National Front) fondly known as BN win with a landslide victory. A majority of 62 seats won against a total of 71 contested. Within 5 years, many changes occurred and BN had to face numerous issues which were used as a political tool by the opposition parties. On the other hand, the opposition parties known as Pakatan Rakyat (People Front) or PR were trying to make inroads to improve their performance in the state elections channeled through various resources within the state. The state elections were seen by many as a bench mark to observe voting trends for the upcoming general elections then, especially among the Chinese voters. This study discusses in detail the 10th Sarawak state elections which took place in 2011 with an in-depth analysis of the issues and challenges faced, so as to understand the hurdles currently being faced by BN leading up to the state elections in 2015/6. The Sibu by-elections is also examined briefly in order to provide a comparative perspective to this study; at the same time to address the impact of the by-elections to BN and PR.