Jacinda Ardern unexpectedly resigned as the Prime Minister of New Zealand on Thursday after being in office for almost five years.
Leaving her country and the world stunned, the popular 42-year-old leader announced that she will not contest in the upcoming elections, scheduled to be held in October.
“I am 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,” she said, adding that she, “no longer has enough in the tank to do it justice”.
She said, “I am human. We give as much as we can for as long as we can and then it’s time. And for me, it’s time.”
Arden said told reporters that she would be doing a disservice to her country by continuing.
The Labour Party will now vote to find her replacement on Sunday.
Arden became the youngest female head of government in the world in 2017, when she was elected prime minister at just 37 years of age.
She won international acclaim for her handling of a terror attack on two Muslim mosques and the Covid-19 pandemic, and became only the second world leader after former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto to give birth while in office.
