Jacinda Ardern is quitting as the New Zealand prime minister before this year’s election. Ms Ardern stated the six challenging years on the job had taken a toll. The announcement comes as polling indicates that her party, the Labour Party faces a difficult path to re-election in October.
Labor members of Parliament will vote to find Ardern’s replacement on Sunday. She will step down by February 7 and if no successor gains the support of two-thirds of the party, the vote will go to the Labor Party’s members. Ms Ardern was the youngest female head of government in the world when she was elected in 2017 at age 37. Ms Ardern was seen popularly around the world, but at home her opinion polls showed she was increasingly unpopular. She had previously stated in 2022 that her declining popularity was due to her government keeping people safe from Covid-19. She also led the country through a cost-of-living crisis, national fears about crime and a backlog of election promises put off by the pandemic. Ms Ardern stressed that she is not resigning because she and the party are unpopular.
Read More: New Zealand PM quits citing burnout
