CNN —
Chris Hipkins, New Zealand’s education minister, will replace Jacinda Ardern as prime minister following her surprise resignation announcement earlier this week.
Hipkins was the only candidate nominated to lead the ruling Labor party, the party said in a statement on Saturday morning.
“The Labor Party caucus will meet at 1pm on Sunday to confirm the nomination and confirm Chris Hipkins as leader,” Labor Party Whip Duncan Webb said in the statement.
The next general election in New Zealand will take place on October 14th.
Ardern said Thursday she would sideline for a new leader and said she doesn’t think she has the energy to seek re-election in October’s election.
At a press conference at the time, Ardern said her term would end on February 7, when she expects a new Labor Prime Minister to be sworn in – although “sooner depending on the process”.
Hipkins was previously responsible for New Zealand’s pandemic management as Minister for Response to Covid-19 in Ardern’s Cabinet.
According to his official profile, Hipkins entered government first as a senior adviser to two education ministers and later in the office of then Prime Minister Helen Clark.
In 2008 he moved into parliament and became education spokesman in early 2013.