FORMER ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) says Speaker of the National Assembly Henry Chimunthu Banda should move quickly to allow the party to elect its member as new Leader of Opposition as laws on the matter are clearly in the party's favour.

DPP Publicity Secretary, Nicholas Dausi, said in an interview on Tuesday, that the party needs to see action from the office of the Speaker on the matter now.

"The Speaker should move with haste on the issue. The laws are so clear and straight forward; the leader of the largest opposition party in parliament is going to be the leader of opposition. We don't see any room for negotiations or consultations here.

"Clearly, the DPP as the largest opposition group now, should not be denied its right to produce a leader of opposition." said Dausi.

Dausi said the Speaker should act based on precedence, saying the house has dealt with similar cases on numerous occasions and said the party will write him again to emphasize the point.

But reacting to the development, MLS president, John Gift Makhwawa, said there was a need for the public to give the speaker more time as there might be facts on his table that the public is not aware of.