THREE MPs Thursday dumped ruling People's Party (PP) and returned to opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ahead of a decision by the Speaker of the National Assembly on the latter's request to declare vacant seats of over 45 DPP MPs.

But one of them, Bofomo Nyirenda of Mzimba Luwerezi, made a U-turn and returned to the party by close of business Thursday.

His dramatic decision was announced in Parliament by Speaker Henry Chimunthu Banda.

The other two MPs, Kasungu West MP Otiria Moyo Jere and Chitipa Wenya MP Godfrey Munkhondya, have since stayed in DPP.

Banda announced in Parliament Thursday morning that the three legislators, who previously belonged to the DPP but crossed the floor to the PP, wrote his office to rescind their decision.

One of the MPs, Jere, insisted she has decided to return to the DPP not because of the fear for Section 65 but because her "supporters at the grassroots were feeling unwelcome in the PP" and hence asked her to return to the DPP.

"I never resigned from the DPP in the first place. I am just going back to the party as requested by my constituents. I have no problem with the leadership of Joyce Banda but the supporters of PP at constituency level were failing to accept my supporters as part of the party, so I felt I could not dump the people who elected me and decided in consultation with them to return to DPP," Jere said.

DPP publicity secretary Nicholas Dausi hailed the returnees, saying the party has welcomed them with open arms.

He said the party expects more to return to the party soon.

"They've realised they made a hasty decision. As it has already been said, there was confusion in the party after the death of our leader, now people have realised that DPP is their home," Dausi said.

Over 50 MPs dumped the DPP soon after the change in government necessitated by the death of former president Bingu Mutharika in April to join the government side of his predecessor Joyce Banda.