Thursday, January 19, 2023

Jacinda Ardern leaves politics on her own terms

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has decided to call it a day even before her current term ends. Having steered her country through the pandemic, the Christchurch shootings, the White Island volcanic eruption and childbirth, and having presided over her share of controversy, she has decided that she no longer has "enough in the tank" to continue, and that to do so would be "doing a disservice to New Zealand".

Her party is not faring well in the polls, and it seems more than likely that it will lose in the next election, but her exit has certainly left the party in a bit of pickle. That said, it's refreshing to see a political leader not looking to cling onto power ad nauseam. Compare her exit with that of Donald Trump or Benjamin Netanyahu or Boris Johnson...

You'd think that six years in high-level politics would be enough for anyone, but that's not the way it seems to work, at least not in the macho world of man-politics. Direct, down-to-earth, but always classy (apart from when club-dancing), Ms. Ardern will be remembered as a youthful politician with a bit of spark, an international feminist icon to many, and a fierce defender of her own little country on the world stage.

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