Dr Mahathir Mohamad's political transition continues to be the subject of debate, especially when the 92-year-old former premier is being touted as the possible candidate to helm the nation if Pakatan Harapan wins federal power in the next polls.

One of those who believes that Mahathir, who is now chairperson of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) is the best answer for the nation's predicaments is former law minister Zaid Ibrahim.

Reaffirming this stand, Zaid took to twitter to comment on a Malaysiakini 'Your Say' article, which featured readers' comments on a poll carried out by the news portal to assess support for Mahathir to become prime minister again.

The Your Say article published this morning was titled “Must we elect an ex-dictator to lead us again?”

To which Zaid replied, in reference to Mahathir being the best candidate to unseat Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak: “No. we elect an ex-dictator because he is the only who knows how to beat the current dictator.”

However, not all agreed with this argument.

Twitter user Mark Faris contended that the problem with such an approach is that it leads to the continuation of the cycle of dictators.

“I'm done relying on lesser evils,” he added.

Another user Firdaus Jati asked: “Are Malaysians destined to be trampled by a succession of dictators? Are we that meek?”

During his 22 years at the helm, Mahathir had been accused of governing the nation with an iron fist, a period which witnessed the muzzling of the press, the taming of the judiciary as well as other key institutions, and the jailing of dissidents.

The former premier and his ministers were also accused of numerous acts of corruption as well as enriching their cronies.

However, Mahathir has denied misappropriating public funds, a charge he has levelled against Najib, who has also refuted the charge.

The former premier's move to the opposition has also spawned differing views among the supporters of DAP and PKR as well.

The Malaysiakini poll which ran for six days since May 19, witnessed an overwhelming number of respondents backing Mahathir for the top post.

According to the 12,777 who voted in the poll, 8,926 (69.9 percent) said Mahathir should be made a candidate while 3,276 (25.6 percent) disagreed.

A small group answered "Not sure" or "Don't care" in the poll.

Of those who answered the English-language poll, 76.6 percent were in favour of naming Mahathir as prime ministerial candidate while 68.6 percent of those who answered through the Bahasa Malaysia poll voted the same.

However, only 51 percent of those who answered the Chinese-language poll backed Mahathir for the top post, with 43.9 percent disagreeing.