He replaces the well-respected Adenan Satem, who passed away on Wednesday.
According to a tweet from Borneo Post Online, Abang Johari will be sworn in as the next chief minister of Sarawak at 4pm today at the Astana.
He was deputy chief minister 2 under Adenan and also Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu deputy president.
Abang Johari, who has been in politics for over three decades, had been considered for the chief minister’s post in 2014 when Abdul Taib Mahmud stepped down.
The 66-year-old is a nine-term assemblyman for Satok, having first contested the seat in 1981.
Trained as an engineer, Abang Johari served as political secretary to Taib when the latter was chief minister of Sarawak.
He was appointed assistant minister of regional and social development in March 1984, and three years later as state agriculture and community development minister.
Abang Johari has 10 siblings and hails from an illustrious Sarawakian family that has a long-standing history within the state.
His father, Abang Openg, was the first governor of Sarawak after Sarawak become independent from Great Britain on July 22, 1963 and when Malaysia was formed on Sept 16, 1963.
Abang Johari performed exceptionally well as the state BN campaign director for the Sarawak elections last May. He managed to defend all of PBB’s 40 seats.
He was also instrumental in assisting the Sarawak United People’s Party recapture five seats from the DAP.
Overall, Sarawak BN won 72 out of the 82 state seats. Its original publicised target was 68 seats.