New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced her resignation on Thursday, taking her country by surprise by saying she did not have “enough energy” to continue to govern after five and a half years in power and nine months before the legislative elections. . “I’m human. We give as much as we can and for as long as we can, and then it’s time. And for me, that time has come,” Ms Ardern told a party meeting. labor.
eruption of violence
“I just don’t have enough energy for another four years,” she added, adding that she would be stepping down on February 7. 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 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 killing of 51 Muslim worshipers at a Christchurch mosque by a white supremacist in 2019.
Hugely popular overseas, where she has graced the covers of Vogue and Time magazines, she has long enjoyed record approval ratings in New Zealand as well, where the media sometimes even spoke of “Jacindamania”. But she has recently seen her party and personal popularity drop in the polls as the economic situation deteriorates and the right-wing opposition regains strength.
“It is high time. It has destroyed the economy and food prices have skyrocketed,” complained Esther Hedges, a resident of Cambridge, on the north island of New Zealand, on Thursday. “I’m not happy with her and I don’t know anyone who is,” the 65-year-old added.
For Christina Sayer, 38, Mrs. Ardern is on the contrary “the best Prime Minister we have had”. “I like the type of person she is and she cares about people. I’m sorry to see her go.”
Elections on October 14
Last month, Ms Ardern’s stress was evident when she was unwittingly caught on the microphone calling an opposition leader an “arrogant asshole”. In her first public appearance since Parliament began its summer recess a month ago, Ms Ardern explained on Thursday that she had hoped to use the break to find the energy to continue governing.
“But I wasn’t able to do that,” she admitted. She announced that the next elections will be held on October 14, and that until then she will continue to exercise her mandate as a deputy. Recent polls give the advantage, for this election, to a centre-right coalition to the detriment of the Labor Party. But Ms. Ardern assured that this is 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 the Labor caucus would vote to appoint a new leader in three days. Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson immediately announced that he would not be a candidate to succeed Ms. Ardern.
“Responsibility”
The outgoing Prime Minister assured that there was no secret reason behind 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 also when you’re not,” she said.
Jacinda Ardern was the second prime minister in the world to give birth in office in 2018, after Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto in 1990. She said she was 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 hailed Ms Ardern as a head of government who has “shown the world how to lead with intelligence and with strength”.