New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announces resignation
Brady Knox
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New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that she will resign.
Ardern, 42, will leave office sometime before Feb. 8, she told the annual caucus of her New Zealand Labor Party. She cited exhaustion in her role as her reason, saying she “no longer had enough in the tank” to do the job.
“It’s time,” she told party members.
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“I have given my absolute all to being prime minister, but it has also taken a lot out of me,” she said.
“You cannot and should not do the job unless you have a full tank, plus a bit in reserve for those unplanned and unexpected challenges that inevitably come along. Having reflected over summer, I know I no longer have that bit extra in the tank to do the job justice. It’s that simple.”
“I am human; politicians are human. We give all that we can for as long as we can. And then it’s time. And for me, it’s time,” she added.
The announcement comes as a shock. Ardern is one of the world’s youngest heads of state. After her election in 2017, she was the world’s youngest female head of state at 37 years old. She was expected to seek a third term as prime minister despite declining popularity amid a worsening economic outlook and bitterness over COVID-19 policies.
Ardern announced that a general election would be held Oct. 14. The Labor Party will hold a meeting on Jan. 22 to figure out if any member has a two-thirds majority needed to become its candidate for prime minister, Bloomberg reported. If not, the contest will go to party leadership in a process that will conclude sometime before the Feb. 7 deadline announced by Ardern.
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“I hope I leave New Zealanders with a belief that you can be kind but strong, empathetic but decisive, optimistic but focused, and that you can be your own kind of leader — one who knows when it’s time to go,” she concluded.