Prime minister-designate Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the new government will work on securing a pardon for his former deputy Anwar Ibrahim.

"We will work on Anwar Ibrahim's pardon.

"Once he's pardoned then he's eligible to become prime minister again but he will have to stand in an election to be the prime minister, or at least a senator," he told a press conference in Petaling Jaya earlier.

Anwar, who is serving a five-year prison sentence, is slated to be released on June 8.

At the Pakatan Harapan convention in January, the coalition had agreed for Mahathir to be the country's 7th prime minister, while Anwar would succeed him.

Mahathir has said that he would stay in the position of prime minister for two years.

Anwar would be disqualified from partaking in elections or holding public office for the next five years unless he obtains a royal pardon.

The PKR de facto leader was jailed after being sentenced for sodomising his former-aide, which he claims was fabricated by the BN government under Najib Abdul Razak.