The newly-resurrected Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition is backing Anwar Ibrahim to serve as Malaysia's next prime minister, both The Star and Malaysiakini reported.

This marks a swift departure from previous proclamations that all factions are backing Mahathir Mohamad.

Khalid Samad, the strategic communications director of Amanah, one of PH's component parties, stated that the PH coalition had reached a consensus on the issue.

An indication that DAP has switched from backing Mahathir to Anwar?

This means that the Democratic Action Party (DAP), another component of the PH coalition, could also have swung towards supporting Anwar as Prime Minister.

Previously on Feb. 24, Lim Guan Eng, the secretary-general of DAP, stated that the party will nominate Mahathir to continue as Malaysia's prime minister.

Malaysiakini further quoted a DAP source who said that the party supports the "formation of a Harapan government".

Meanwhile, an MP from Anwar's Parti Keadilan Raykat (PKR) was also quoted by The Star as stating on Feb. 26: "We give full support to Anwar as the Eighth Prime Minister. As far as PKR MPs are concerned, we are solidly behind him. I believe Amanah and DAP are also with us."

How many seats does the PH coalition command now?

Following Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia's (Bersatu) exit from the coalition and Azmin Ali’s defection from PKR, Pakatan Harapan was left with 92 MPs.

This is not enough to command a majority in Malaysia's parliament, where 112 out of 222 MPs is needed for a simple majority.

Bersatu to back Mahathir

As for Bersatu itself, it has stated that it will continue to support Mahathir.

A Bersatu source indicated to Malaysiakini that a deal regarding Mahathir's and Anwar's positions had been floated.

Under this deal, Mahathir will remain as prime minister while Anwar will serve as deputy prime minister until November.

Afterwards, Anwar will become the prime minister, while Mahathir's son, Muhkriz Mahathir, will assume the post of deputy prime minister.

With regard to Azmin and his fellow MPs who left PKR, they will join Bersatu, Free Malaysia Today (FMT) further reported.

Such a move is expected to boost support for Mahathir.

PKR secretary-general denies saying member from his party will be nominated as PM

In the meantime, the secretary-general of PKR, Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, has denied telling a media outlet that MPs from his party have nominated one of their own as prime minister, The Star further reported.

Saifuddin was initially quoted by The Straits Times as stating that the party is voting for somebody from their own party to be prime minister.

But the article has since been updated.

Saifuddin subsequently clarified that he had only said that PKR MPs have named their eighth prime minister candidate to Malaysia's king.

Top image collage from PH Facebook and Anwar Facebook