The parliament has announced that the minority party of the Peoples' Majlis is opposing Progressive Party of Maldives, and declared Eydhafushi MP Ahmed Saleem as the minority leader.
The 19th Parliament earlier had 65 MPs from main ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), five members each from both PPM and JP, and two members from Maldivian Development Alliance (MDA) and six independent members.
However, during Monday's parliament sitting, the Speaker of the Parliament Mohamed Nasheed announced that independent member Hussain Mohamed Latheef of Fares Mathoda constituency had joined PPM, bringing the total number of PPM members in the parliament to six.
As per the Parliament Act, the minority leader is the parliamentary group leader of the party that represents the second largest number in the parliament. Therefore, MP Saleem is now the minority leader according to the law, as announced by the Speaker.
The Speaker of the Majlis has requested to submit the response to the presidential address delivered by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih during the inaugural session of the current parliament session at the earliest. The responsibility of responding to the presidential address falls on the minority leader.
