The pardon of PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim may be slightly delayed, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today.

"On our promise to get a pardon for Anwar, it will continue, but the process will be followed.

"Even though it has been agreed, the Pardons Board meet might be slightly delayed because we want to follow the rules," Mahathir said at a press conference.

"As I have said several times, this government is going to follow the laws and rules in implementing its duty. We will not bypass the law and do something outside the confines of the law," he added.

Earlier today, Anwar's daughter, PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar, had said that the Pardons Board will meet tomorrow.

Mahathir noted the deputy solicitor-general would be taking over the role of attorney-general Apandi Ali on the pardons board.

Apandi was earlier today directed to go on leave by the new government.

Anwar was sentenced to a five-year prison term in March 2014 over sodomy charges. He has maintained that the charges against him were a political conspiracy.

He is scheduled for an early release from imprisonment early next month and is currently recovering from a back surgery at the Cheras Rehabilitation Hospital.

However, Pakatan Harapan had campaigned not only to secure Anwar’s immediate release from prison but to also secure a full pardon. This would allow him to immediately rejoin politics and contest in elections.

Mahathir had previously said that Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Muhammad V had indicated that he was prepared to grant an immediate pardon to Anwar but the process for obtaining a pardon still needed to be followed.