New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacind Ardern has announced her resignation on Thursday.
In an emotion laden voice Ardern made this announcement at the Party’s first caucus meeting, Ms. Ardern, who took over office at the age of thirty- seven in 2017, revealed that she hadn’t ‘enough in the tank,’ to do justice to the job..
“I’m 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. I know what this job takes.
“And I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice. It’s that simple,” Ardern said.
“I am human, politicians are human. We give all that we can for as long as we can. And then it’s time. And for me, it’s time,” she said.
In 2017, Ardern became the world’s youngest female head of government when she was elected prime minister at the age of 37.
The 2 year old has led New Zealand through the Covid-19 pandemic, and a series of disasters including the terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, and the White Island volcanic eruption.
“This has been the most fulfilling five and a half years of my life. But it’s also had its challenges – among an agenda focused on housing, child poverty and climate change, we encountered a … domestic terror event, a major natural disaster, a global pandemic, and an economic crisis,” she said.
Her term as prime minister will wrap up no later than 7 February but she will continue as an MP until the election billed to take place in October this year.