Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Jan 19: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will stand down no later than early February. After more than five years as the leader of the country in the South Pacific, Jacinda Ardern announced that she will step down in February. She wouldn’t run for office again.
On Thursday, she said to members of her Labour Party, ‘For me, it’s time.’ On October 14, a general election would take place, she said.
“This summer, I had hoped to find a way to prepare for not just another year, but another term – because that is what this year requires,” a visibly emotional Ardern said during the statement.
Ardern said that it had been a tough five and a half years as prime minister and that she was only human and needed to step aside.
“I know there will be much discussion in the aftermath of this decision as to what the so-called ‘real’ reason was… The only interesting angle you will find is that after going on six years of some big challenges, I am human,” she continued.
On Sunday, members of the ruling New Zealand Labour Party will vote for a new leader. The winner will serve as prime minister up to the following general election. A general election will be held on October 14 and Ardern’s tenure as a leader will end no later than February 7.
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The next Labour leader will be chosen on Sunday, according to Ardern, who also predicted that the New Zealand Labour Party would win the election.
Grant Robertson, the deputy prime minister and finance minister of New Zealand, declared in a statement that he will not run to be the next leader of the Labour Party.
Political analyst Ben Thomas said Ardern’s statement came as a great surprise because polls consistently showed that she was the nation’s preferred prime minister, despite the fact that her party’s popularity had declined from the sky-high levels recorded before the 2020 election.
According to Thomas, there was no obvious replacement.
Ardern asserted that she was leaving the position not because it was difficult, but rather because she thought others could do it better.
In addition to telling her longtime partner Clarke Gayford that it was time for them to get married, she made a point of telling her daughter Neve that she was excited to be there when she started school this year.
