Indonesia’s vice president tenders resignation, aide says

Indonesia’s Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka tendered his resignation to President Prabowo Subianto on 11 November, his aide Budi Arie Setiadi told Reuters. The account follows court rulings on Gibran’s education documents and a petition by lawmakers seeking a path toward his impeachment.

In a ruling published on 10 November, Indonesia’s Supreme Court annulled the education-equivalence certificate Gibran used to qualify for the election and ordered the education ministry to withdraw it. The court found no evidence of a foreign diploma or certificate proving he had graduated at a level equivalent to senior high school.

The certificate and the court case

Indonesian election law requires vice-presidential candidates to have completed senior high school or an equivalent education. Gibran, who studied abroad, used the certificate to meet that requirement for the 2024 election, which he won alongside Prabowo.

The certificate was issued on 6 August 2019 by the education ministry’s Directorate General of Primary and Secondary Education. In its judgment dated 30 October 2026, the Supreme Court granted M Subhan’s cassation challenge against the director general of primary and secondary education and overturned a 12 August 2026 Jakarta administrative appeals court decision that had upheld a 21 May 2026 Jakarta administrative court ruling.

The Supreme Court considered a 5 October Constitutional Court judgment in a challenge brought by Denny Indrayana and others. That challenge was declared inadmissible, but the court’s reasoning said the proceedings had not established a diploma or equivalent proof of senior-high-school completion. The Constitutional Court said disqualifying Gibran was a responsibility for other institutions.

Responding to the Constitutional Court judgment on 7 October, Gibran said he could not have attended university without finishing high school and had studied through bachelor’s level in Singapore. On 6 November, Education Minister Abdul Mu’ti said there had been no further legal process within his ministry concerning the Supreme Court ruling.

Petition and resignation process

On 11 November, 120 lawmakers from eight factions signed the proposal concerning Gibran. Signatory Muhammad Kholid said the petition argued that the court rulings meant Gibran no longer met the requirements to be a vice-presidential candidate. He said it would be submitted to the House speaker and could lead into an impeachment process.

Presidential spokesperson Prasetyo Hadi said Gibran had expressed his intention to resign at a November 10 meeting with Prabowo. Hadi denied that the president had rejected the request but did not say he had accepted it. Gibran later told reporters that Prabowo had advised him to keep fighting the education-records case, including by seeking judicial review of the Supreme Court ruling.

Gibran is the son of former President Joko Widodo, known as Jokowi. The dispute has unfolded amid a widening rift between Widodo and Prabowo. Widodo defeated Prabowo in the 2014 and 2019 presidential elections before tacitly backing him as his successor.

Australian National University researcher Sana Jaffrey said Prabowo’s silence suggested he wanted Gibran removed without openly bearing the political cost, including a possible backlash from Widodo’s supporters. She warned that prolonged uncertainty would deepen anxieties at home and abroad.

Two sources in the parliamentary upper house told Reuters that Gibran would submit his resignation letter to the chamber on the morning of 12 November. The upper house will oversee approval of the resignation and the selection of a replacement.