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Jacinda Ardern resigns as New Zealand PM: ‘I have no energy’

Jacinda Ardern resigns as New Zealand PM: 'I have no energy'

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In statements to television, the Labor party will leave office in February and announced that general elections would be held on October 14. She assures that there is no secret reason behind her resignation. “I’m leaving because with such a privileged position comes great responsibility. The responsibility of knowing when you’re the right person to lead, and also when you’re not,” she said.

Jacinda Ardern has been at the helm of New Zealand for five years. “I’m human. We give it all we can for as long as we can, and then the time comes. And for me, that time has come,” said Ardern, 42, who has long enjoyed spectacular approval ratings among her peers. compatriots even talking about “Jacindamania”, a popularity that has plummeted in recent times in polls due to the deterioration of the economy.

Ardern’s stress had been evident at some recent public events such as last month when she was caught calling an opposition official an “arrogant asshole” without realizing the microphone was on.

The latest polls show a center-right coalition ahead of Labor in the upcoming election. But he denies that it is the reason for his departure.

“I’m not leaving because I think we can’t win the next election, but because I think we can and we will,” he said. His resignation will take effect no later than February 7, and the Labor caucus will vote for a new leader three days later. Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson made it immediately clear that he would not be a candidate to succeed Ardern.

“For me, it’s about time,” he told a meeting of his Labor Party. “I just don’t have the energy for another four years,” Ardern added that she became prime minister in a coalition government in 2017.

During his tenure, he had to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, a deadly volcanic eruption and the worst attack in the country’s history, the murder of 51 Muslim worshipers at a Christchurch mosque by a white supremacist in 2019. .

Neighboring Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hailed Ardern as a leader who “has shown the world how to lead wisely and firmly,” he said.

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