Kuala Lumpur, April 17 (IANS) Malaysia's ruling alliance Barisan Nasional (BN) has swept the assembly poll in Sarawak state.

It is a development that gains importance in the light of speculation about early parliament polls.

BN constituent won 55 of the 71 seats, retaining its two-thirds majority. Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud was elected - in the 10th election held in the state that joined the Malaysian union in 1963, six years after Malaysia gained independence.

The opposition won 15, with one seat going to an independent.

In the last state election in 2006, the BN won 63 seats and the opposition won seven, with an independent holding one seat, New Straits Tmes said Sunday.

Mahmud credited BN's win to the good cooperation between the federal and state governments under the leadership of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

Sarawak is Malaysia's largest state, located on the island of Borneo. It has a mix of tribes and ethnic groups.

The state has a small population of ethnic Indians, most of them Hindus. There are less than 10 Hindu temples throughout Sarawak, most of them located in Kuching and Miri.

It was not quite the perfect storm that some people had predicted but the Sarawak election is a signal that the political landscape in the state has shifted in a way that its leaders had not foreseen, The Star said Sunday.