Chris Hepkins is ready to lead the New Zealand government after the sudden resignation of Jacinda Ardern. Labor Party parliamentary group leader Duncan Webb said in a statement Saturday that Hepkins was the only candidate to lead the Labor Party as the 44-year-old candidate had not yet been formally endorsed by the Labor Party conference. Webb said the transition would be made on Sunday. Arden is expected to formally resign after this, and Hepkins is due to be sworn in as New Zealand’s 41st prime minister.
Hopkins will be prime minister ahead of the country’s general election due on October 14 this year. Speaking at his first press conference on Saturday, Hopkins said the prime minister’s role was “a huge privilege, but also a huge responsibility.”
He added that he was a hardworking worker, eager to leave New Zealand better than he found it. “I feel energized and enthusiastic and look forward to starting my duties,” he said, noting that Ardern has provided a calm, stable and encouraging leadership, especially in the most difficult years the country has faced. “I hope I can do that too, even though we’re different people.”
He declined to name the person he would appoint as his deputy. Grant Robertson is currently the Deputy Prime Minister and Kelvin Davis is the leader of the Labor Party. Hipkins currently holds the posts of police and education ministers but is best known for his role as Covid-19 minister in the midst of a pandemic.
On Thursday, Ardern announced that she would step down from her post on February 7. Ardern was elected prime minister in 2017 at the age of 37 and is one of the youngest female heads of government in the world and only the second woman to become a mother while still in office.
