Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) president Muhyiddin Yassin said Pakatan Harapan's candidate for prime minister should be discussed behind closed doors only.

"It is my personal opinion that this should not be discussed openly, because it may lead to misunderstanding or confusion.

"It may give the impression that we are not united... It is better that we discuss this internally. There should not be leaks," he told reporters during a press conference at the Bersatu headquarters in Petaling Jaya today.

Muhyiddin said this in response to a question on the apparent disagreements among Harapan leaders on who should lead the coalition.

BN leaders have been continuously hounding Harapan to announce their candidate for premiership on grounds that failure to do so meant they were unsuitable to govern.

Thus far, PKR, Parti Amanah Negara and DAP have backed PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim as their candidate but Bersatu has not done the same.

It is understood that some Bersatu leaders were against following suit because of the many legal hurdles required to install Anwar as prime minister, since he is still in jail and would be disqualified from holding public office for five years upon his release.

Instead, some Bersatu leaders would rather Harapan name Muhyiddin or Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the candidate, given that they have experience in governing Putrajaya.

Mahathir himself has said he was open to becoming prime minister again if his coalition partners agreed to it.

However, the other core supporters of Harapan are wary of Muhyiddin and Mahathir, whom they see as representatives from a junior member of coalition and were once their political enemies.