“I am human. We give as much as we can and as long as we can and then it’s time. And for me, that moment has come. During a meeting of her Labor Party on Thursday, the First of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern gave herself confident, claiming that after five and a half years in power and nine months after the general election, she “didn’t have enough energy” to continue governing. Before announcing her resignation, she stated that she would be leaving office on February 7. An announcement that surprised his country.
Jacinda Ardern, 42, became prime minister in a coalition government in 2017 before leading the centre-left Labor Party to a landslide victory in the next general election three years later. During her tenure, she faced the Covid-19 pandemic, a deadly volcanic eruption and the country’s worst-ever attack, the 2019 killing of 51 Muslim worshipers at a Christchurch mosque by a white supremacist.
Hugely popular overseas, where she has graced the covers of Vogue and Time magazines, she has also long enjoyed record popularity in New Zealand, where she is sometimes dubbed ‘Jacindamania’ in the media. But she has recently seen her party and personal popularity in the polls slip as the economic situation worsened and the right-wing opposition regained strength.
It’s about time. It’s wrecked the economy and food prices have skyrocketed,” complained Esther Hedges, a resident of Cambridge on New Zealand’s North Island, on Thursday. “I’m not happy with her and I don’t know anyone who who it is,” added the 65-year-old. For Christina Sayer, 38, on the contrary, Jacinda Ardern is “the best prime minister we’ve ever had.” “I like the kind of person she is and she cares around people. I’m sorry to see them go.”
Elections on October 14th
Last month, Jacinda Ardern’s stress was evident when she was unknowingly caught at the microphone calling an opposition leader an “arrogant asshole”. In her first public appearance since Parliament’s summer recess began a month ago on Thursday, she said she had hoped to use the recess to find the energy to continue governing. “But I couldn’t,” she admitted.
She announced that the next elections will take place on October 14 and that she will continue to exercise her mandate as an MP until then. Recent polls put the advantage for a centre-right coalition at the expense of the Labor Party in this election. But Jacinda Ardern assured that this was not the reason for her departure.
“I’m not leaving because I believe we can’t 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 and that the Labor Group would vote on the appointment of a new leader in three days. Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson immediately announced that he would not run for his successor.
The outgoing prime minister assured that there was no secret reason for her resignation. “I’m leaving because such a privileged position comes with great responsibility. The responsibility of knowing when you’re the right person to lead and when you’re not,” she said. Jacinda Ardern became the second prime minister in the world to hold office in 2018, after Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan in 1990. She said she’s looking forward to spending more time with her daughter Neve, who is due to start school later this year. and to marry her partner, television star Clarke Gayford.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has welcomed a leader who “has shown the world how to lead with intelligence and strength”.