JAKARTA: Indonesia’s upper house of parliament will pick the country’s new vice president on December 2, its speaker said on Friday, after the dramatic resignation of Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the president’s deputy and the son of his predecessor.
Gibran’s resignation this week, which analysts say could widen the gulf between President Prabowo Subianto and former President Joko Widodo, followed a month of increasing political pressure from lawmakers after Indonesia’s top courts ruled that he had inadequate education credentials to run for the job.
Speaker Ahmad Muzani said the upper house, which is tasked by law with appointing the new vice president, would now send a letter to Prabowo requesting that he submit two names for the job.
The house has also formed a team of 36 lawmakers to verify the candidates’ credentials, Muzani said. It was not immediately clear which names Prabowo would submit.
On Thursday, Gibran said his resignation was a personal decision and unrelated to issues pertaining to his education credentials.
Gibran, 39, was elected alongside Prabowo in the 2024 election. Critics accused his father, Widodo, better known as Jokowi, of meddling in the process by influencing a court decision that changed the election rules, enabling Gibran to stand.
Analysts believe Gibran’s resignation could stoke further political turbulence and lock Jokowi and Prabowo into a bitter rivalry.
