New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday shocked her country by announcing she would resign from office.
The 42-year-old leader, who steered New Zealand through natural disasters, the COVID-19 pandemic and its worst-ever terror attack, said she no longer had “enough in the tank.”
“I am human. We give as much as we can for as long as we can and then it’s time. And for me, it’s time,” she told a meeting of members of her Labour Party.
Photo: AP
Ardern said she would step down no later than on Feb. 7, less than three years after winning a landslide election to secure her second term in office.
Since that 2020 peak of “Jacindamania,” Ardern’s administration has struggled — its popularity hampered by soaring inflation, a looming recession and a resurgent conservative opposition.
“I believe that leading a country is the most privileged job anyone could ever have, but also one of the more challenging,” Ardern said. “You cannot and should not do it unless you have a full tank, plus a bit in reserve for those unexpected challenges.”
Ardern won international acclaim for her empathetic handling of the 2019 Christchurch mosque attack, in which 51 Muslim worshipers were killed and 40 injured.
Later that year, she was praised for her decisive leadership during a fatal volcanic eruption on White Island, also known as Whakaari.
She yesterday cited her administration’s actions on housing affordability, climate change and child poverty as further sources of pride.
“And we’ve done that while responding to some of the biggest threats to the health and economic wellbeing of our nation arguably since World War II,” Ardern said.
Featured on the cover of Time magazine, there was a perception that Ardern was more popular abroad than she was at home.
At her peak she was a domestic force, but her government has been steadily sliding in the polls over the last year.
“It’s about time. She’s wrecked the economy and food prices have skyrocketed,” said Esther Hedges, a resident of Cambridge on New Zealand’s North Island.
“I’m not happy with her and I don’t know anyone who is,” the 65-year-old added.
Christina Sayer, 38, said Ardern was “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,” Sayer added.
The stress of the job has been evident, with Ardern showing a rare lapse of poise last month when she was unwittingly caught calling an opposition politician an “arrogant prick.”
New Zealand actor and Hollywood veteran Sam Neill said Ardern was frequently targeted by social media “bullies.”
“She deserved so much better,” he said in an online statement.
New Zealand is to choose its next prime minister in a general election on Oct. 14, Ardern said, adding that she would continue to serve as a legislator until then.
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