Gibran Set to Become Indonesia’s Youngest VP and Echo Megawati’s Legacy
Jakarta. Gibran Rakabuming Raka is poised to make history as Indonesia's youngest vice president, with all quick counts from Wednesday's poll by major research agencies indicating a convincing victory for him.
He is set to follow in the footsteps of Megawati Soekarnoputri as the child of a former president ascending to the vice presidency.
An interim tally by the General Election Commission (KPU) also confirms Gibran and presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto leading with 56 percent of the vote over two rival pairs.
Gibran, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's eldest son, will be 37 years and 19 days old by the inauguration date of October 20, if the current results stand.
His candidacy was made possible by a Constitutional Court ruling that amended the minimum age requirement of 40 for presidential and vice-presidential candidates, making exceptions for candidates in elected offices. Gibran, elected as the mayor of Solo three years ago, became an eligible candidate just weeks before the registration deadline due to this ruling.
If the current results hold, he will succeed Ma’ruf Amin, who set the record as the country’s oldest vice president at 76 years old in October 2019.
Among the 12 individuals who have held the role since the country's independence in 1945, the youngest was founding father Mohammad Hatta, who took office as the first vice president alongside President Sukarno on Aug. 18, 1945, at the age of 43.
Hatta also holds the record for the longest-serving vice president, spanning 11 years and 105 days. In contrast, Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie had the shortest time in service, with just 71 days amid nationwide protests against President Soeharto's authoritarian rule in 1998.
Megawati, the daughter of Sukarno, remains the only woman to ever serve as vice president. She became the second vice president to secure the presidency by constitutional order after President Abdurrahman Wahid was impeached in 2001. Habibie was the first vice president to assume the role of president after Soeharto resigned in 1998.
Jusuf Kalla holds the distinction of being the only vice president to have served two different presidents, during Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s presidency in 2008-09 and the Jokowi administration in 2014-19.
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