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| New Zealand’s former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern hugs friends and colleagues at her farewell to the nation as leader. Image: DAWN/AFP |
By DAVID ROBIE for IDN-InDepth News
AOTEAROA New Zealand has been shaken to the core by the sudden resignation of one of its most iconic and revered prime ministers amid a fierce controversy over misogyny and death threats stirred by the global coronavirus pandemic.
Jacinda Ardern, the world’s youngest female prime minister at 37 when she was elected in 2017 on a stardust wave of “Jacinda-mania”, stepped aside on January 19 after emotional scenes at her last official function wrapped in a traditional Māori feathered cloak at the historic Ratana church.
It is now less than a fortnight after her resignation caught the nation by surprise and has thrown this year’s general election due on October 14 wide open.
Ardern told New Zealanders that after five and a half years as leader of the left-of-centre Labour Party and with the biggest mandate in modern times, she “no longer had enough in the tank to do the job justice”.
Her party had been trailing in opinion polls in the face of a revived conservative National Party led by former airline executive Christopher Luxon and the right-wing ACT party, but she was still the most preferred prime minister in spite of her eroding popularity.
