KOTA KINABALU, Nov 7 - Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today that anyone from Sabah, including Parti Warisan president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, is eligible to be prime minister, provided he has the support of all Malaysians.

The former prime minister said that parties need not limit their "election promise" that Sabahan and Sarawakian leaders can only be deputy prime ministers.

"Anyone in Malaysia can be the prime minister. So Sabahans are eligible. The problem is popularity, whether or not getting the support.

"Leaders from Sabah should not just work in Sabah. They need to come out to the Peninsula and Sarawak in order to be known," he said when campaigning for Parti Pejuang Tanahair’s candidate in Papar.

Dr Mahathir pointed out that the Federal Constitution does not clarify or restrict which region the prime minister has to be from, and that as long as the leader is qualified and has the support of a majority of MPs, he can become the prime minister.

"When I said that Sabahans can hold the top post in the country, I was adhering to the Constitution. The constitution does not limit the prime minister post to any groups,” he said.

Asked who the party planned on working with to form a government after GE15, Dr Mahathir said GTA is open to any party except Umno, PAS and Perikatan Nasional — citing their alleged corruption record

"Everything is possible. The only thing that is not possible is working with BN and PN.

"If Gabungan Rakyat Sabah wants to work with us, we will study it after the election," he said.

Dr Mahathir said that the party's goal was to overthrow political parties involved in corruption and build a corruption-free government.

"We want to establish a government that is clean from them or they will misuse power for their own interests,” he said.