Experts Urge MPR Verification Team to Assess Legality and Constitutional Requirements for Vice Presidential Candidate

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The verification team of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) has been urged to assess the legality, validity of documents, and fulfillment of all constitutional requirements for the vice presidential candidate to replace Gibran Rakabuming Raka.

Executive Director of Aljabar Strategic Indonesia, Arifki Chaniago, stated that these three aspects should be the primary focus for the verification team to ensure that the vice presidential replacement process does not merely serve as a political formality.

"The verification team must thoroughly evaluate three aspects: the legality of the candidate, the validity of documents, and the fulfillment of all constitutional requirements. There must be no double standards, especially not preferential treatment due to support from certain political forces," Arifki told Kompas.com on Saturday (14/11/2026).

According to Arifki, the verification process must be objective and should not just validate agreements made by political elites.

"A crucial point in this verification process is to ensure that the MPR does not merely become a rubber stamp for elite political agreements," he said.

He emphasized that the vice presidential replacement process is not just about finding someone to fill Gibran's vacancy.

Instead, the selected candidate must possess strong legal legitimacy to avoid future issues.

"This process is not just about finding who can replace the Vice President, but ensuring that the selected individual has indisputable legal legitimacy," he stated.

Arifki also reminded that the examination of constitutional requirements should not take place after the candidate has been agreed upon by political elites.

"The candidate should not be agreed upon in elite circles, with the constitutional requirements only becoming a later concern. Law must precede political compromise, not the other way around," Arifki remarked.

Previously reported, the MPR officially formed a verification team to assess the vice presidential candidates to replace Gibran Rakabuming Raka.

MPR Chairman Ahmad Muzani mentioned that the team consists of 36 members and will be led by one of the MPR leaders.

"The joint meeting has decided that the verification team will comprise 36 members, to be chaired by one of the MPR leadership. The task of this verification team is to verify all the requirements of the vice presidential candidates," Muzani stated at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, on Friday (13/11/2026).

Muzani has not disclosed the names of members or the MPR leader who will chair the verification team.

He only explained that the team is responsible for reviewing all requirements for the vice presidential candidate that will eventually be proposed by President Prabowo Subianto.