New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern surprisingly announced her resignation. In two and a half weeks, on February 7, she will give up her position, the 42-year-old said in tears at an event of her Labor party on Thursday. Ardern gave the reason that she felt that she no longer had enough strength for more years in her office.
“I know what you need for this job and I just don’t have enough in the tank for another four years,” she explained her decision at her first press conference this year. The prime minister was obviously referring to the upcoming parliamentary elections this year and the subsequent legislative period. “We all give as long as we can give and then it’s over. And now is the time for me.”
Her resignation will take effect upon the appointment of a successor. A new leader of the Labor Party is to be elected on Sunday. At the same time, Ardern announced the date for the next parliamentary elections: The Pacific state will go to the polls on October 14th.
The popular Labor politician came into media focus around the world when she became the youngest Prime Minister in the world in 2017 at the age of only 37. In just a few months, she rose from deputy opposition leader to head of government. Her meteoric rise has a name in New Zealand: Jacindamania.
When she gave birth to daughter Neve in June 2018, she became the first prime minister in decades to give birth while in office. Ardern has been with Neve’s father, journalist Clarke Gayford, since 2013.
Because of her empathetic nature and her successful crisis management, she quickly made a name for herself internationally. In the general election in October 2020, she won a landslide victory for Labor – and was re-elected for another three years. Most recently, however, the popularity ratings of the head of government and her party had fallen in surveys.
Appreciated for sensitive crisis management
Ardern has had to overcome several serious crises in recent years. In particular, her handling of the attacks in Christchurch, in which a right-wing extremist from Australia shot 51 Muslims in two mosques in March 2019, brought her a lot of recognition abroad. At the time, she gave a moving speech and wore a headscarf to show her solidarity with the Muslim community around the world.
In December 2019, more than 20 people died in a volcanic eruption on White Island, and Corona struck a few months later. Ardern’s government responded to the coronavirus with one of the strictest curfews in the world, sealing off the country to foreign visitors.
The result: New Zealand came through the pandemic relatively unscathed for a long time. For a long time, the citizens of the small country at the other end of the world lived a normality that was almost forgotten, while massive restrictions applied in most other countries.
After a year and a half, Ardern also had to admit that no country in the world can completely eradicate the corona virus in the long term. The “zero Covid strategy” was lifted at the end of 2021.
Regarding her resignation, she explained: “With such a privileged role comes responsibility, including the responsibility to know when you are the right person to lead and when not.” The office has asked a lot of her.
“You can and should only do the job when you have a full tank, plus a little reserve for the unplanned and unexpected challenges that inevitably come.” She hopes she has given New Zealanders the belief that they are their own kind of leadership: “Someone who knows when it’s time to go.” (dpa, AFP)
To home page
