A survey by Institut Darul Ehsan (IDE) found that Malays favour Dr Mahathir Mohamad making a comeback as prime minister, compared with PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.

According to the survey, 29 percent of Malays want Mahathir as prime minister while Anwar and Hadi tied for the second spot, with both receiving 25 percent respectively.

Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) president Muhyiddin Yassin came in third among Malays at 13 percent, while DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang came in a distant fourth at one percent.

This was based on a survey of 1,761 respondents conducted from Aug 26 to early September.

Among the Chinese community, Lim Kit Siang was the most popular candidate for prime minister, at 42 percent, followed by Anwar (32 percent), Mahathir (14 percent) Muhyiddin (nine percent) and Hadi (three percent).

As for the Indian community, the majority favoured Anwar at 40 percent, followed by Mahathir (33 percent), Muhyiddin (19 percent), Lim Kit Siang (nine percent) and Hadi (two percent).

However, when all races were taken into account, Anwar was still the top candidate.

As a whole, 30 percent of respondents favoured Anwar to lead the country, followed by Mahathir (24 percent), Muhyiddin (17 percent), Lim Kit Siang (15 percent) and Hadi (14 percent).

Similar trend among the youth

A similar trend was observed among youths, where 29 percent favoured Anwar.

However, Mahathir came in at a close second place with 28 percent of the youths favouring him as leader, followed by Lim Kit Siang and Muhyiddin at 16 percent and Hadi at 11 percent.

IDE political education and democracy cluster chief Shahruddin Badaruddin said the survey indicated that Anwar was still relevant, despite his incarceration.

"The research showed Anwar is still popular among Malaysians and the issues he struggles for, including on justice and democracy, are still relevant," Shahruddin said in a statement today.

The survey found 51 percent of the respondents also believed that Anwar was victimised and should be released from prison.

This was up from 43 percent in IDE's survey conducted in November 2015.

The remaining 29 percent were unsure, while another 20 percent believe Anwar should remain in jail.

When the subject of leadership is raised specifically in the context of Anwar alone, 40 percent wanted Anwar to lead but 31 percent were against him.

Another 29 percent were uncertain.

The Federal Court in February last year upheld Anwar's five-year jail sentence for sodomy, a charge he claimed was politically motivated.

IDE is a Selangor government-sponsored think tank, with Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali as its adviser.