Kuala Lumpur, May 29 (IANS): Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has been sacked from the political party that he co-founded.

In a letter to Mahathir on Thursday, the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) Working Secretary Muhammad Suhaimi Yahya said the former Prime Minister's party membership was terminated after having sat with the opposition during the one-day Parliament session on May 18, an act that violated the party's constitution, Xinhua news agency reported.

Also sacked were Mahathir's followers in the party, including his son Mukhriz Mahathir, former Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, former Education Minister Maszlee Malik and former Deputy Finance Minister Amiruddin Hamzah.

Mahathir founded the PPBM in 2016 with Muhyiddin after the two fell out with then Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Mahathir and Muhyiddin became PPBM's chairman and president, respectively.

PPBM later joined other opposition parties to form the Pakatan Harapan coalition and went on to win the general elections in 2018.

Mahathir became the Prime Minister for the second time with Muhyiddin serving as the Home Minister.

Mahathir resigned as the Prime Minister in February.

Muhyiddin led PPBM to leave Pakatan Harapan, causing the coalition's majority in the lower house of parliament to collapse.

Muhyiddin then joined hands with parties that were defeated in the 2018 elections.

He was sworn in as Prime Minister on March 1.