New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in Sydney on July 8, 2022. RICK RYCROFT / AP
His decision surprised New Zealand. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Thursday 19th January that she would step down on 7th February.
At an annual meeting of the Labor Party, of which she is a member, the leader felt she no longer had the energy to do her job:
“I’m leaving because a position of such great privilege comes with great responsibility. The responsibility of knowing when you are the right person to lead and when you are not. I know what this job demands. And I know I don’t have enough energy left to do him justice. As simple as that. “
Jacinda Ardern has been in office since 2017 and is an atypical politician. Appointed Prime Minister at 37, she is the youngest person to hold the highest office in her country’s history. She also became the second world leader the following year to have a child during her tenure.
His management of the pandemic has been celebrated
She was very popular in her country and had affected the whole world after the attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, which killed 51 people. The New Zealand Prime Minister did not hesitate to wear the veil to visit bereaved Muslim families, thereby projecting an image of a tolerant and supportive leader. When US President Donald Trump asked her how to help her country after this attack by a white supremacist, Jacinda Ardern suggested that she should “send sympathy and love to Muslims.”
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Coping with the Covid pandemic was also praised: she quickly closed the borders and opted for strict exit restrictions. The voters didn’t take it amiss: in October 2020, the Labor Party had achieved its highest score in fifty years.
However, the economic crisis caused by the pandemic had caused its popularity to dwindle in recent months.
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