Jacinda Arden quits as PM citing ‘burnout’
PM Jacinda Ardern has announced she will step down as New Zealand’s prime minister ahead of this year’s election, saying she no longer has “enough in the tank” to lead.
Arden will step down by 7 February, once Labour Party MPs have voted for her replacement.
The shock announcement comes as polling suggests the party might struggle to be re-elected on 14 October.
New Zealand PM Jacinda Arden bids farewell
PM Arden, 42, said she had taken time to consider her future over the summer break, hoping to find the heart and energy to go on in the role.
“But unfortunately I haven’t, and I would be doing a disservice to New Zealand to continue,” she told reporters on Thursday.
Arden discussed how challenging the past six years have been – the Christchurch shootings, the Covid-19 pandemic and the recession that followed as well as natural disasters such as the White Island volcanic eruption.
“These events… have been taxing because of the weight, the sheer weight and continual nature of them. There’s never really been a moment where it’s ever felt like we were just governing.”
World leaders thank Jacinda Ardern
National Party leader Chris Luxon was among those who thanked Ms Ardern “for her service to New Zealand”.
“She has given her all to this incredibly demanding job,” the opposition leader wrote on Twitter.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described Ms Ardern as a leader of intellect, strength and empathy.
“Jacinda has been a fierce advocate for New Zealand, an inspiration to so many and a great friend to me,” he wrote.
Canada’s leader Justin Trudeau said she had made an “immeasurable” difference to the world.
Who is Jacinda Ardern?
If no would-be successor gets enough support of two-thirds of the party room, the vote will go to Labour’s lay membership.
Jacinda Ardern became the youngest female head of government in the world when she was elected as PM in 2017 – at the age of 37.
In 2018, she became the second elected world leader to ever give birth while in office, after Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto in 1990.
Jacinda Ardern has a reputation as a political global star, but back home in NZ opinion polls suggest she has been becoming increasingly unpopular.
The 2020 election saw Ardern lead the Labour party to a landslide election, capitalising on her government’s quick reaction to the pandemic.
In her speech, announcing her decision, Ardern listed her government’s various achievements on climate change, social housing and reducing child poverty.
But she said she hoped her legacy in New Zealand would be “as someone who always tried to be kind”.
“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 said.
