New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Thursday announced that she will step down next month after being in power for six years, saying she no longer has “enough in the tank” to lead.
“I had hoped that I would find what I needed to carry on over that period but, unfortunately, I haven’t, and I would be doing a disservice to New Zealand to continue,” the BBC quoted the Prime Minister as saying to reporters.
Ardern, who became the youngest female head of government in the world when she was elected Prime Minister in 2017 at the age of 37, said that the six “challenging” years in the job had taken a toll.
“It’s one thing to lead your country through peace time, it’s another to lead them through crisis,” she said. “These events… have been taxing because of the weight, the sheer weight and continual nature of them. There’s never really been a moment where it’s ever felt like we were just governing.”
She will step down as Labour Party leader no later than February 7, following which there will be a vote in the coming days to determine her replacement. New Zealand will hold a general election on October 14.
