Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she will resign as she cites burnout
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Ardern, who has become a global progressive icon since taking power in 2017, said she no longer had “enough in the tank” to do justice to the job and would step down by Feb. 7.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Thursday that she will step down, saying she no longer had “enough in the tank” after a premiership defined by her response to a series of crises.
Ardern, 42, has become a global progressive icon since her election in 2017 and won praise for her handling of the nation’s worst mass shooting and the beginning of the pandemic. But her approval ratings have plummeted at home, jeopardizing her re-election prospects and intensifying the vitriolic abuse she has experienced throughout her time in office.
“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,” Ardern said in a surprise announcement in Napier, where her governing center-left Labour Party is holding a caucus retreat. “I know what this job takes, and I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice.”
She said she would resign as prime minister no later than Feb. 7 and would not seek re-election to Parliament later this year.
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