Akshay DidwaniyaIndonesia’s youngest ever vice president has stepped down after court rulings cast doubt on his education papers. Parliament was already pushing to impeach him.
Indonesia’s Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka has stepped down from office. The 39 year old son of former president Joko Widodo handed his resignation to the leaders of the People’s Consultative Assembly, known as the MPR. He delivered it at the parliament building in Jakarta. Gibran Rakabuming Raka resigns at a moment when lawmakers were already pushing for his impeachment.
A Short Letter With No Explanation
MPR Speaker Ahmad Muzani shared the contents of the letter on Thursday. The letter gave no reason for the decision. Gibran simply wrote that he was leaving the post, saying he would “hereby declare my resignation from the position of vice president at my own request.” He submitted the letter on Wednesday. The move ends a political saga that played out across several court cases.
Who Is Gibran Rakabuming Raka?
Gibran is the eldest son of Indonesia’s seventh president, Joko Widodo, widely known as Jokowi. He is also the youngest person ever to serve as the country’s vice president. Before politics, he worked as a businessman. He started a wedding organising company. He later launched food and drink ventures with his younger brother, Kaesang Pangarep. Several of those businesses still operate today.
Gibran joined his father’s party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDIP, in September 2019. Soon after, he won the race for mayor of Solo in Central Java. Jokowi once held that same job.
In 2024, Gibran ran as the running mate of Prabowo Subianto, who chairs the Gerindra Party. PDIP backed rival candidates, so the party later expelled him. Indonesian law does not require a president and vice president to come from the same party. Prabowo and Gibran took their oaths of office in October 2024.
The Credentials Row Behind His Exit
The whole controversy centred on one document. Election law says candidates for president and vice president must have finished senior high school or an equivalent. Several politicians questioned whether Gibran could prove he met that rule. They claimed he relied on a substitute certificate. They said the General Elections Commission should never have accepted it. They wanted him disqualified.
The Constitutional Court refused to remove him. It said the election dispute process could no longer handle the issue because Gibran already held office. Still, the court said it found no convincing evidence of a foreign diploma that matched senior high school.
The Supreme Court then stepped in. It invalidated the substitute equivalency certificate issued by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education. Gibran had used that certificate when he registered for the election.
Those rulings fuelled new calls in parliament to remove him. Lawmakers argued he no longer met the requirements for the job. Gibran chose to quit before the impeachment process could finish.
What Happens Next
The resignation does not touch Prabowo’s position. Under the constitution, the president keeps governing if the vice presidency falls vacant. The MPR must now hold a session within 60 days to elect a replacement.
The process starts with Prabowo. He must send two nominees and their supporting documents to the assembly. The MPR then checks that both candidates meet the legal requirements. After that, members vote in a plenary session. The candidate with the most votes becomes vice president.
A tie triggers a second round of voting. If the result stays tied, the president picks one of the two candidates.
Who Could Replace Gibran?
It is far too early to say who will get the job. Several names are already circulating, both inside and outside the governing coalition.
One name that keeps coming up is Puan Maharani. She is a senior PDIP politician and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. She is also the daughter of former president Megawati Soekarnoputri. Prabowo ran as Megawati’s running mate in 2009 but lost. PDIP sits outside the governing coalition. However, it has never formally declared itself an opposition party.
Other names include Sugiono and Sufmi Dasco Ahmad. Sugiono is a former foreign minister and the secretary general of Gerindra. Dasco is a deputy speaker of parliament and the party’s executive chairman. Both are close allies of Prabowo.
Constitutional law expert Zainal Arifin Mochtar summed up the uncertainty, saying “Politics is always full of surprises.”
Why the Gibran Resignation Matters
Gibran Rakabuming Raka resigns as one of Indonesia’s most visible political figures. His exit follows court rulings, parliamentary pressure and a long debate over one school certificate. Now the focus shifts to Prabowo’s two nominees and the MPR vote that will follow.
Aditya Didwaniya
Mayur Mohta
Pratik Agrawal