KUALA LUMPUR (July 16): Umno president and Barisan Nasional (BN) Bagan Datuk Member of Parliament (MP) Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is the new opposition leader in the Dewan Rakyat.

Umno secretary-general and Ketereh MP Tan Sri Annuar Musa announced today that the decision to choose Ahmad Zahid was made at a meeting yesterday of the opposition Barisan Nasional (BN) and PAS parties.

“We held a meeting of BN and PAS and all of us agreed to nominate Ahmad Zahid as the opposition leader. Ours was a unanimous decision. There were no other nominations,” he said to reporters at the lobby of Parliament today.

PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan, the MP for Kota Baru, said PAS agreed that Ahmad Zahid should be the opposition leader based on the number of seats BN had in the Dewan Rakyat.

“This is a democratic practice. The BN has the most number of seats (in the opposition), so we support it. Although we back the decision, PAS is not bound by BN (decisions). PAS can still have its own stand on certain issues,” he said.

BN has 54 seats in the 222-seat Dewan Rakyat while PAS has 18. Pakatan Harapan (PH) has 116 seats; Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), 19; Parti Warisan Sabah, eight; UPKO, PBS, PBRS and Star, one each; and independents, three. Warisan is supportive of PH and GPS has stated it is friendly to PH.