[UPDATED] Jacinda Ardern announces resignation, will not seek re-election in Oct polls

KUALA LUMPUR – In a shock announcement, New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern has said she will resign and will conclude her term by February 7, world media report this morning.

She said she would not be seeking re-election and would leave her post next month, citing the loss of “energy or inspiration” to run for election later this year.

According to The Guardian, Ardern announced her resignation at a meeting of her party’s annual caucus yesterday.

The media quoted her as saying: “I’m leaving, because with such a privileged role comes responsibility. The responsibility to know when you are the right person to lead and also when you are not. 

“I know what this job takes. And I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice. It’s that simple.”

According to Bloomberg, Ardern will remain an MP until April. New Zealand’s election is scheduled for October 14.

The 43-year-old Labour politician has been touted as a kind and compassionate leader with common sense, known globally for her dignified response after the mosque terror attacks in Christchurch in March 2019.

She also led New Zealand to be among the first and earliest countries to close its borders at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, successfully containing the virus. The same year, she secured a second term as prime minister in the country’s general election.

Ardern, who rose to the post in October 2017, was, at the time, the world’s youngest woman to hold such a post, at 37.

She is also known as the world’s second elected head of government to give birth while in office when she delivered her daughter, Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford, the following year.

She also became the first world leader to bring her baby to the United Nations General Assembly meeting in 2018. – The Vibes, January 19, 2023