Monitoring Desk
WELLINGTON: Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, on her final day as prime minister bid an emotional farewell Tuesday, thanking New Zealanders for their generosity and sensitivity but saying she was ready to be a sister and a mother.
Days after shocking the entire world by stating she had “no more in the tank” to lead the nation and would resign, the 42-year-old arrived at a gathering of lawmakers and Maori elders in the small hamlet of Ratana, north of Wellington, and was immediately besieged by supporters looking for pictures.
Speaking to the gathering, Ardern expressed gratitude for the greatest honor of her life. Chris Hipkins, the next head of the Labour party, will take her position after her resignation on Wednesday. Ardern, Hipkins, and other opposition MPs were in Ratana for a weeklong ceremony honoring the birth of the Maori prophet Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana.
Recognition as a Prime Minister
She led members of her party onto the community grounds while a brass band performed, wearing a black dress with her shoulders draped in a traditional Maori cloak, known as a Korowai. The left-wing worldwide icon garnered recognition for bringing her baby to a United Nations conference and wearing a headscarf following a massacre targeting Muslims. She claimed she was quitting the position with love in her heart despite becoming the victim of online harassment and hate speech from right-wing extremists on social media. She claimed that compared to when she started, she had more love and affection for Aotearoa New Zealand, and its residents.
Before entering the grounds, Ardern spoke to the media for the last time as prime minister, smiling heartily and rejecting to address political questions, saying they were now the job of her successor. She claimed she is prepared to assume many roles. She is prepared to serve as an MP (member of parliament) from the opposition party. As a mother and a sister, she is prepared.
Her 4-year-old daughter, Neve, will start school in June. Hipkins, the country’s previous COVID minister, was the only candidate chosen to lead the Labour Party. He won his first election to the legislature in 2008.
