New Zealand: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern unexpectedly announces resignation

“I am human. We give as much as we can and for as long as we can, and then the time comes. And for me that moment has come. she “no longer has the energy” to continue ruling after five and a half years in office and nine months after legislative elections before announcing her resignation, saying she would leave office on February 7. An announcement that surprised his country.

Jacinda Ardern, 42, became prime minister of a coalition government in 2017 and led the centre-left Labor Party to a landslide victory in the next election three years later. During her tenure, she has faced the Covid-19 pandemic, a deadly volcanic eruption and the country’s worst attack, the 2019 killing of 51 Muslim worshipers in a Christchurch mosque by a white supremacist.

Hugely popular overseas, where she has graced the covers of Vogue and Time magazines, she has long had record approval ratings in New Zealand, where the media sometimes even refer to her as “Jacindamania.” But more recently, she has seen her party’s popularity and personal popularity in the polls tumble as the economy worsens and the right-wing opposition regains strength.

“It’s long overdue. It’s ruined the economy and food prices have skyrocketed,” Esther Hedges, a resident of Cambridge on New Zealand’s north island, complained on Thursday. “I’m not happy with her and I don’t know anyone who is happy,” added The 65-year-old is for Christina Sayer, 38, Jacinda Ardern, on the contrary, “the best prime minister we’ve had.” “I love the kind of person she is and she cares about people. I’m sorry she’s leaving.”

Elections October 14

Jacinda Ardern’s stress was evident last month when she was accidentally caught on the microphone calling the leader of the opposition an “arrogant jerk.” In her first public appearance since parliament began summer recess a month ago, she explained on Thursday that she hoped to use the break to find the strength to continue ruling. “But I couldn’t do it,” she admitted.

She said that the next elections will be held on October 14, and until then she will continue to fulfill her duties as a deputy. Recent polls favor the centre-right coalition at the expense of the Labor Party in this election. But Jacinda Ardern assured that this is not the reason for her departure.

“I am leaving not because I believe we cannot win the next election, but because I believe we can and we will,” she said. She said her resignation would take effect no later than February 7, with the Labor caucus to vote on a new leader three days later. Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson immediately announced that he would not run for his seat.

The outgoing prime minister assured that there was no secret reason for her resignation. “I am leaving because such a privileged position comes with great responsibility. The responsibility of knowing when you are right for leadership and when you are not,” she said. Jacinda Ardern became the second prime minister in the world to have a baby in 2018 after Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan in 1990. and marry her partner, TV personality Clark Gayford.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hailed the head of government, who “showed the world how to lead with force and reason.”