DR Mahathir Mohamad was nominated as Pakatan Harapan’s interim prime minister because de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim is still in jail, said the coalition’s secretary-general Saifuddin Abdullah.

He said PH had learnt from past experience about naming a prime minister candidate ahead of the general election.

“PKR tried to do this in the 2013 election but it didn’t work out. 

“There was no consensus within PKR; and there were those who wanted to name Ku Li as the prime minister candidate,” Saifuddin said, referring to Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah who is with Umno but was allegedly offered the prime minister’s post by Islamist party PAS.

“So when should PH name their prime minister candidate? Before the 14th General Election at the PH convention (January 7, 2018); or after the parliament dissolves or after the announcement of the 14th General Election,” Saifuddin said on Facebook.

His post comes following news Dr Mahathir and PKR president Dr Wan Azizan Wan Ismail were nominated as interim prime minister and deputy prime minister, respectively, at a PH retreat last weekend.

All PH parties have agreed to the move except for PKR which is split.

The Malaysian Insight which reported the decision learnt while Dr Wan Azizah had agreed to the proposal in principle, a faction within PKR was opposed to it.

Saifuddin said the best candidate for prime minister was Anwar but he could not be named and that was why the coalition settled on nominating an interim prime minister.

Ideally, the perfect candidate would be someone who was a “combination of Dr Mahathir and Anwar”, he said.

“The youths support Dr Mahathir and Anwar ... the women also support them. Their experiences are important for the party.

“Dr Mahathir is also important in bringing in the rural Malay votes and Umno members and supporters to vote for PH,” Saifuddin said. – December 5, 2017.