New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Thursday she will step down from her post next month: “The time has come for me,” Ardern told members of her Labor Party, adding, “I don’t have the energy for another four years.”
As for Ardern, who led a coalition government in 2017 before leading her party to a landslide victory in elections three years later, recent polls have shown a decline in her popularity, as well as that of her party.
In her first public appearance since the summer recess in Parliament a month ago, Ardern told the Labor Party’s informal annual conference that during this break she hoped to find the energy to continue her leadership of the country, “but I could not do it. “
She indicated that the next elections will be held on October 14, and until then she will retain her deputy position.
“I am resigning not because I think we cannot win the next election, but because I know we can and we will,” she said.
Ardern indicated that her resignation would take effect no later than February 7, adding that the Labor Party would elect a new leader on January 22.
Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said he would not run for leadership of the party.
Ardern denied there was any mystery behind her resignation, saying, “I’m human. We do our best for as long as we can, and then the time comes. And the time has come for me.”
“I am leaving because there is a huge responsibility in such a privileged job. The responsibility to know when you are the right person to lead and when you are not,” she said.
