WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 19 Jan: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who became a global icon of the left and exemplified a new style of leadership, said Thursday that she would leave office.
\nJust 37 when she became leader, Ardern was praised around the world for her handling of the nation\u2019s worst-ever mass shooting and the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. But she faced mounting political pressures at home and a level of vitriol from some that hadn\u2019t been experienced by previous New Zealand leaders.
\nStill, her announcement came as a shock throughout the nation of 5 million people.
\nFighting back tears, Ardern told reporters in Napier that Feb. 7 would be her last day as prime minister after five and a half years in office.
\n\u201cI know what this job takes, and I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice. It is that simple,\u201d she said.
\nLawmakers in her Labour Party will vote for a new leader on Sunday.
\nArdern became an inspiration to women around the world after first winning the top job in 2017. She seemed to herald a new generation of leadership \u2014 she was on the verge of being a millennial, had spun some records as a part-time DJ, and wasn\u2019t married like most politicians.
\nIn 2018, Ardern became just the second world leader to give birth while holding office. Later that year, she brought her infant daughter to the floor of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
\nShe notched up center-left victories while right-wing populism was on the rise globally, pushing pushed through a bill targeting net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, overseeing a ban on assault weapons, and largely keeping the coronavirus out of New Zealand for 18 months.
\nHer approach to the pandemic earned the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump, and she pushed back against wildly exaggerated claims from Trump about the spread of COVID-19 after he said there was a massive outbreak and \u201cIt\u2019s over for New Zealand. Everything\u2019s gone.\u201d
\n\u201cWas angry the word?\u201d Ardern said about Trump\u2019s comments in an interview with The Associated Press at the time.
\nIn March 2019, Ardern faced one of the darkest days in New Zealand\u2019s history when a white supremacist gunman stormed two mosques in Christchurch and slaughtered 51 worshippers during Friday prayers. Ardern was widely praised for her empathy with survivors and New Zealand\u2019s wider Muslim community in the aftermath.
\nAfter the mosque shootings, Ardern moved within weeks to pass new laws banning the deadliest types of semi-automatic weapons. A subsequent buyback scheme run by police saw more than 50,000 guns, including many AR-15-style rifles, destroyed.
\nLess than nine months after the shooting, she faced another tragedy when 22 tourists and guides were killed when the White Island volcano erupted.
\nArdern was lauded globally for her country\u2019s initial handling of the coronavirus pandemic after New Zealand managed to stop the virus at its borders for months. But she was forced to abandon that zero-tolerance strategy as more contagious variants spread and vaccines became widely available.
\nShe faced growing anger at home from those who opposed coronavirus mandates and rules. A protest against vaccine mandates that began on Parliament\u2019s grounds last year lasted for more than three weeks and ended with protesters hurling rocks at police and setting fires to tents and mattresses as they were forced to leave. This year, Ardern canceled an annual barbecue she hosts due to security fears.
\nArdern last month announced a wide-ranging Royal Commission of Inquiry would look into whether the government made the right decisions in battling COVID-19 and how it could better prepare for future pandemics. A report is due next year.
\nMany observers said that sexist attitudes played a role in the anger directed at Ardern.
\n\u201cHer treatment, the pile on, in the last few months has been disgraceful and embarrassing,\u201d wrote actor Sam Neill on Twitter. \u201cAll the bullies, the misogynists, the aggrieved. She deserved so much better. A great leader.\u201d AP<\/p>\n
But Ardern and her government also faced criticism that it had been big on ideas but lacking on execution. Supporters worried it hadn\u2019t made promised gains on increasing housing supply and reducing child poverty, while opponents said it was not focusing enough on crime and the struggling economy.
\nArdern described climate change as the great challenge for her generation. But her polices faced skepticism and opposition, including from farmers who protested plans to tax cow burps and other greenhouse gas emissions.
\nArdern had been facing tough prospects at the ballot box. Her center-left Labour Party won reelection in 2020 with a landslide of historic proportions, but recent polls have put her party behind its conservative rivals.
\nArdern said the role required having a reserve to face the unexpected.
\n\u201cBut I am not leaving because it was hard. Had that been the case I probably would have departed two months into the job,\u201d she said. \u201cI am 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.\u201d
\nShe said her time in office had been challenging but fulfilling.
\n\u201cI am entering now my sixth year in office, and for each of those years, I have given my absolute all,\u201d she said.
\nAustralian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Ardern \u201chas shown the world how to lead with intellect and strength.\u201d
\n\u201cShe has demonstrated that empathy and insight are powerful leadership qualities,\u201d Albanese tweeted. \u201cJacinda has been a fierce advocate for New Zealand, an inspiration to so many and a great friend to me.\u201d
\nCanadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau thanked Ardern on Twitter for her friendship and \u201cempathic, compassionate, strong, and steady leadership.\u201d
\nArdern charted an independent course for New Zealand. She tried to take a more diplomatic approach to China than neighboring Australia, which had ended up feuding with Beijing. In an interview with the AP last month, she said that building relationships with small Pacific nations shouldn\u2019t become a game of one-upmanship with China.
\nNew Zealand Opposition Leader Christopher Luxon said Ardern had been a strong ambassador for the country on the world stage. He said that for his party \u201cnothing changes\u201d and it remains intent on winning this year\u2019s general elections to \u201cdeliver a government that can get things done for the New Zealand people.\u201d
\nArdern announced that vote would be held on Oct. 14, and that she would remain a lawmaker until then. Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson announced that he won\u2019t contest the leadership of the Labour Party, throwing the competition open.
\nIt\u2019s unclear who will take over as prime minister until the election.
\nIf no candidate gets at least two-thirds support from the caucus when Labour lawmakers vote on Sunday, then the leadership contest will go to the wider party membership. Ardern has recommended the party chose her replacement by the time she steps down.
\nArdern said she hadn\u2019t had too much time to reflect on her tenure in the role, although noted it had been marked with crises.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s one thing to lead your country in peace times, it\u2019s another to lead them through crisis. There\u2019s a greater weight of responsibility, a greater vulnerability amongst the people, and so in many ways, I think that will be what sticks with me,\u201d she said. \u201cI had the privilege of being alongside New Zealand during crisis, and they placed their faith in me.\u201d
\nAya Al-Umari, whose brother Hussein was killed in the Christchurch mosque attacks, tweeted her \u201cdeepest gratitude\u201d to Ardern, saying her compassion and leadership during that grim day \u201cshone a light in our grief journey.\u201d
\n\u201cI have a mixture of feelings, shocked, sad but really happy for her,\u201d Al-Umari wrote.
\nArdern said she didn\u2019t have any immediate plans after leaving office, other than family commitments with her daughter, Neve, and her fianc\u00e9, Clarke Gayford, after an outbreak of the virus thwarted their earlier wedding plans.
\n\u201cAnd so to Neve, Mum is looking forward to being there when you start school this year,\u201d Ardern said. \u201cAnd to Clarke, let\u2019s finally get married.\u201d AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 19 Jan: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who became a global icon of the left and exemplified a new style of leadership, said Thursday that she would leave office. Just 37 when she became leader, Ardern was praised around the world for her handling of the nation\u2019s worst-ever mass shooting and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-209141","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209141\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}