Abdul Rahman decided not to dissolve the Council Negeri of Sarawak during the 1978 Malaysian general election because he needed to tackle the opposition by the PAJAR party and solve the allocation of state assembly seats after the inclusion of SNAP into the BN coalition. However, Abdul Rahman's BN coalition put up a strong showing in the 1978 parliamentary election by winning 23 out of 24 parliamentary seats in Sarawak. The remaining one seat was won by Sarawak People's Party (SAPO). Abdul Rahman dissolved the Council Negri one year after the parliamentary election. This was the first time in the history of Sarawak that the state election was held separately from the national parliamentary election. Both elections continue to be held separately since then. The Sarawak BN coalition won 45 out of 48 state assembly seats with 61.23 percent of the popular vote in the 1979 Sarawak state election.