New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Thursday announced her shocking resignation, she will be vacating the chair in February
Sydney: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that she would be resigning next month.
“For me it’s time,” she said at a meeting of members of her Labour Party. “I just don’t have enough in the tank for another four years.”
Ardern, who won a resounding electoral victory for her center-left Labor Party three years after being elected prime minister in a coalition government in 2017, has seen both her party and her personal popularity decline in recent polls.
She stated during Labour’s annual caucus retreat that she had hoped to find the energy to continue as leader during the break, “but I have not been able to do that,” in her first public appearance since the start of the summer session in parliament a month ago.
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Ardern said the next general election will be held on Saturday, October 14 and she would continue as an electorate MP until then.
“I am not leaving, because I believe we cannot win the next election, but because I believe we can and will,” she said.
The Labor caucus would vote on a new leader on January 22, according to Ardern, who also stated that her departure would be effective no later than February 7.
Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said he would not be putting his name forward.
Ardern said there was no secret behind her resignation.
“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.
“I am leaving because with such a privileged job comes a big responsibility. The responsibility to know when you are the right person to lead — and also when you’re not.”
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