WELLINGTON - New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said her decision to step down was “tinged with sadness” but she had “slept well for the first time in a long time”, a day after she announced her resignation.

Ms Ardern, a global figurehead for progressive politics, stunned the country on Thursday by announcing her abrupt exit from office, less than three years after securing a second term in a landslide election win.

The 42-year-old – who steered New Zealand through natural disasters, the Covid-19 pandemic and its worst-ever terror attack – said she had “no more in the tank”.

“Even though I am, of course, tinged with sadness, I don’t doubt the decision,” Ms Ardern said on Friday, adding that she felt “a sense of relief”.

She was speaking to Newshub at the airport after arriving back in Auckland following a Labour Party caucus retreat.

In the wake of Ms Ardern’s emotional resignation, some women in New Zealand drew attention to the torrent of abuse she faced during her six years as Prime Minister. “Jacinda has faced a level of hatred and vitriol which in my experience is unprecedented in our country,” former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark said on Thursday.

Political commentators have lined up to condemn the social media abuse that was increasingly directed at Ms Ardern before her resignation.

Threats of violence against the Prime Minister nearly tripled from 2019 to 2021, the Guardian reported in June.

Women in senior political roles often report being harassed more often and more aggressively than men; Princeton University research estimates that women in local political office are targeted 3.4 times more than their male peers. 

Ms Ardern resigned with no clear successor and her ruling Labour Party is now scrambling to settle on a replacement.

Labour has been struggling in the polls. A Taxpayers’ Union-Curia poll released on Friday using data before Ms Ardern stepped down saw Labour’s popularity fall to 31.7 per cent, while the opposition New Zealand National Party holds 37.2 per cent of the vote. 

Labour members of Parliament will try to elect the next prime minister on Sunday, with the winning candidate needing two-thirds of the vote.

If that does not happen, it will become a drawn-out contest involving rank-and-file party members and affiliated unions.

Mr Chris Hipkins, 44, is the early front runner after Ms Ardern’s deputy, Mr Grant Robertson, swiftly ruled himself out of the race. Other names in the mix are Justice Minister Kiri Allan, one of Labour’s senior Maori MPs, and Immigration Minister Michael Wood.

None of the three has so far confirmed they will contest the ballot.

Ms Allan, a former commercial lawyer who entered Parliament in 2017, has been touted as possibly New Zealand’s first Maori prime minister.

She was forced to take leave from Parliament in April 2021 after she was diagnosed with Stage 3 cervical cancer but returned to work just three months later.

Labour’s 15-member Maori caucus is expected to have a significant say in picking the next leader. About 17 per cent of New Zealand’s population of five million identified as Maori in the country’s latest census.

“Obviously we’d love one day for there to be a Maori prime minister,” said influential Labour minister Kelvin Davis.

Mr Willie Jackson, a former co-chairman of Labour’s Maori caucus, said it was hugely important to be involved in those discussions. “We’re talking about the prime minister of our nation, so we want to play a part,” he said.

Te Pati Maori, also known as the Maori Party, contests the specially reserved Maori electorates. It also said it was time for a prime minister of Maori descent.

“Anything less will be taking Aotearoa (New Zealand) backwards from Jacinda Ardern,” co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi said in a statement.

The high-profile Mr Hipkins has handled the tough portfolios of Covid-19 response, police and education, and is seen as a safe pair of hands.

Political commentator Josie Pagani has described him as “sensible, likeable, tough and capable”.

Mr Wood is the third candidate to emerge so far. The 42-year-old was responsible for lifting New Zealand’s minimum wage and has considerable backing in the union movement.

The winning candidate will become prime minister until the next general election. Ms Ardern’s term as leader will conclude no later than Feb 7 and a general election will be held on Oct 14.
AFP, BLOOMBERG, REUTERS