Dr Taufiq Johari, 26, the son of former Sungai Petani MP Johari Abdul, said he received a letter from the party on his candidacy yesterday.

“An official announcement will be made in Ampang (tonight),” the Kedah PKR Youth chief told FMT.

He denied that his father had intentionally made way for him to contest in Sungai Petani, saying there was a “vacancy” that needed to be filled after Johari decided not to defend the seat he had held for three terms.

“It so happened that he didn’t want to contest and the seat was open, and I, as state PKR Youth chief, nominated myself,” he said, adding that Johari will remain the Gurun assemblyman.

Taufiq, who is the sixth of eight siblings, said he had been exposed to politics since young as Johari often brought him along for election campaigns.

Johari had been the Sungai Petani MP since 2008. In the 2018 general election, he garnered 45,532 votes, defeating three other candidates with a majority of 21,569 votes.

Taufiq, a medical graduate from Universiti Islam Bandung, completed his studies in 2020. He served as a trainee doctor at several hospitals in Garut, Indonesia, before returning to Malaysia.