Jakarta – A senior politician from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said on Tuesday that President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo after his term expired in 2024 could run again as vice president if political parties could agree on nominating him for the position.
Bambang Wuryanto, a PDI-P executive in charge of election campaigns told reporters that there was no constitutional rule that barred Jokowi from running as vice president. "He definitely can [run], but he has to be nominated by a political party or a coalition of parties," Bambang said, as quoted by kompas.com.
The senior PDI-P politician also said, however, that the decision to nominate Jokowi as vice president in the 2024 presidential election would rest in the hands of party chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri.
"In the case of the PDI-P, I must reiterate that the decision regarding candidates for president or vice president is in the hand of Ibu Megawati Soekarnoputri as party leader," he said.
After his term expires in 2024, President Jokowi would be barred from running as president due to the constitutional arrangement allowing only two terms. Yet, the Constitution has no stipulation on whether an incumbent president could run for a fresh term as vice president.
Some of Jokowi's supporters have proposed that due to the disruption brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the President should be allowed to extend his term beyond 2024.
President Jokowi has repeatedly said that he would abide by the constitutional term limit and that he would not seek to serve after his term expired in October 2024.