Jokowi on Gibran’s Impeachment: Follow the Constitutional Process

Solo (ANTARA) – Indonesia’s seventh president, Joko Widodo (Jokowi), said calls to impeach Vice-President Gibran Rakabuming Raka following a Constitutional Court (MK) ruling concerning his educational qualifications must follow the democratic and constitutional mechanisms in force.

“People may pursue the available democratic mechanisms, provided they are in accordance with the constitution and the existing legal rules,” Jokowi said in Solo on Thursday.

He made the statement in response to the possibility of efforts to impeach Gibran after the MK delivered Decision No. 01/PHPU.PRES-XXIV/2026 concerning the dispute over the results of the 2024 presidential and vice-presidential election.

Jokowi said he respected the MK’s ruling, including the legal reasoning set out by the court.

“We respect the MK’s ruling and its various stages, including the legal considerations it provided,” he said.

“Here, the stages go from primary school to junior high, senior high and a bachelor’s degree; there are also diploma courses. Other countries have their own systems. Some follow a system like ours, with primary, junior and senior high school before university, while others offer pathway programmes leading to a diploma and then a bachelor’s degree,” he said.

Jokowi said Gibran had completed an undergraduate degree and, in his view, must therefore have passed the preceding stages of education.

“If someone has completed a bachelor’s degree, they must have passed the earlier stages. Otherwise, they would not be able to enrol for the degree,” he said.

In its legal reasoning for Decision No. 01/PHPU.PRES-XXIV/2026, the MK said it had found no convincing evidence that Gibran held a certificate, diploma or other qualification from overseas education that could serve as a basis for deeming him equivalent to someone who had completed at least senior high school or an equivalent level, as required by the Election Law.

The court considered that the substance of the case could no longer appropriately be resolved under the regime for disputes over presidential election results, because Gibran had been inaugurated and sworn in as vice-president on 20 October 2024.

In its ruling, the MK declared the petition inadmissible because the petitioners lacked legal standing to bring a dispute over the presidential election results.

Asked about the possible implications of the court’s reasoning for Gibran’s candidacy in the 2029 presidential election, Jokowi referred the matter to the relevant authorities.

He said the General Elections Commission (KPU) and the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) had authority under the applicable procedures and regulations.