Indonesia’s vice president, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, has resigned amid questions about his education credentials, and the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) is scheduled to choose his successor on December 2.
Gibran submitted his resignation to President Prabowo Subianto and the MPR on November 12. Prabowo said he had accepted it. The dispute grew after Indonesia’s Constitutional Court found no convincing evidence that Gibran had a high-school diploma that met the requirements.
The Supreme Court separately ruled invalid the certificate he had used to show that his education was equivalent. Gibran said he chose to leave for personal reasons, not because of questions about his education. He resigned just over two years into his five-year term.
His resignation came shortly before lawmakers were due to consider a petition asking to impeach him. MPR Speaker Ahmad Muzani said the assembly would ask Prabowo to nominate two candidates. Muzani said the assembly had appointed lawmakers to check the candidates’ qualifications.
The process is expected to fill the vice-presidential vacancy by December 2. Analysts say Gibran’s departure could also cause tension in the political relationship between Prabowo and Gibran’s father, former president Joko Widodo. Both men have publicly voiced support for Prabowo.