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Jacinda Ardern - New Zealand PM Quits Citing Burnout

The new zealand pm quits citing burnout. Jacinda Ardern is stepping down as prime minister of New Zealand before the election this year. She says she doesn't have "enough in the tank" to lead.

Hilda Workman
Jan 20, 202332 Shares752 Views
The new Zealand pm quits citing burnout. Jacinda Ardern is stepping down as prime minister of New Zealand before the election this year. She says she doesn't have "enough in the tank" to lead.
Polls show that her Labour Party will have a hard time getting re-elected on October 14. This newscame as a shock.
Ms. Ardern got emotional as she talked about how her "challenging" six years on the job had hurt her.

Sunday, Labour MPs Will Vote On Who Should Take Her Place

Ms. Ardern, who is 42 years old, said that she had thought about her future during the summer break and hoped to find the heart and energy to keep doing her job.
"But unfortunately I haven't, and I would be doing a disservice to New Zealand to continue," she told reporters on Thursday.
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Ms. Ardern will leave her position on February 7. If no one gets the support of two-thirds of the people in the party room, the lay members of Labour will vote.
When she was elected prime minister in 2017, at the age of 37, Ms. Ardern became the youngest woman in the world to run a government.
A year later, she gave birth while in office, becoming the second elected world leader to do so after Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto in 1990.
She led New Zealand through the Covid-19 pandemic and the recession that followed, the Christchurch mosque shootings, and the White Island volcanic eruption.
Ms. Ardern said that the last five and a half years had been the "most fulfilling" of her life, but that it had been hard to lead the country through a "crisis."
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.- Ms. Ardern
Chris Luxon, who is the leader of the National Party, was one of the people who thanked Ms. Ardern "for her work for New Zealand."
Jacinda Ardern with her partner Clarke Gayford both wearing black
Jacinda Ardern with her partner Clarke Gayford both wearing black
"She has given her all to this incredibly demanding job," the opposition leader wrote on Twitter.
Anthony Albanese, the prime minister of Australia, said that Ms. Ardern is a smart, strong, and caring leader. He wrote:
Jacinda has been a fierce advocate for New Zealand, an inspiration to so many and a great friend to me.- Anthony Albanese
Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, said that she had made an "incalculable" difference in the world.
But even though Ms. Ardern was often seen as a political star around the world, polls show that she is becoming less popular at home.
She led the Labour Party to a huge victory in the 2020 election, taking advantage of how well her government responded to the pandemic early on.
But according to the most recent polls, her popularity is at its lowest level since she was elected, and so is the approval of how her party is doing.
In 2022, Ms. Ardern told the BBC that the price her government paid to keep people safe from Covid-19 was a drop in her popularity.
But she has also had to deal with a rise in the cost of living, fears about crime across the country, and a backlog of campaign promises that were put off because of the pandemic.
People have had different reactions to what she said. One person from her own electorate in Auckland told the NZ Herald that Ms. Ardern was "running away before getting thrown out." This person blamed her for more crime and higher costs of living.
For some, like Max Tweedie of Auckland Pride, she is "one of the greatest prime ministers in New Zealand's history."
This is also how New Zealand actor Sam Neill feels. He said that "bullies" and "misogynists" had treated Ms. Ardern in a "disgraceful" way.
The star of Jurassic Park wrote on Twitter, "She deserved so much better."
But Ms. Ardern made it clear that she was not leaving because she and her party were not well-liked.
I am not leaving because I believe we can't win the election but because I believe we can and will, and we need a fresh set of shoulders for that challenge.- Ms. Ardern
There aren't any candidates for the job yet, but several MPs, including Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson, have already said they won't run.
Ms. Ardern said that she was most proud of what her government had done about climate change, social housing, and reducing child poverty.
But she said she wanted to be remembered in New Zealand as "someone who always tried to be kind."
She said:
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.- Ms. Ardern
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