Daily Times

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on January 19 that she would resign as Prime Minister by February 7. Currently, she does not see anything unusual about him participating in the next elections and remaining in his position as Prime Minister. She wants someone else to run for the role in the next election to be held in October. Jacinda Ardern is the Prime Minister of New Zealand’s Labor Party. Of course, Jacinda must have discussed this with her party leaders before taking the decision to resign. Although Jacinda has successfully brought New Zealand out of many difficulties as Prime Minister in the last five and a half years, the country still faces basic economic, unemployment, and housing issues.

Jacinda Ardern is held in high esteem by the people of New Zealand, especially the Islamic community in New Zealand. Jacinda has been called a champion of New Zealand’s multicultural society. She is a charismatic leader who brings together people of different classes, faiths, and cultures. She possesses high leadership skills in keeping in touch with different classes and establishing trust, maintaining mutual peace and harmony.

Jacinda Ardern is the first woman Prime Minister in the non-Islamic world who assumed the office of Prime Minister in 2017 at the age of 37.

On March 15, 2019, when a terrorist attack at a mosque in Auckland killed 51 worshippers and 40 were seriously injured, Jacinda with her high-level wisdom dressed in Islamic clothes arrived at the mosque and not only expressed sympathy for the Muslims but also openly made statements against terrorism. This was the first time that a head of a non-Muslim country had openly condemned the incident without associating with any faith. She said that the Islamic community of New Zealand is a peaceful and fraternal community. She said that Islam had nothing to do with this terrorism that can be related to this act. Islam is a peaceful religion that rejects all forms of terrorism. Jacinda Ardern’s statements were appreciated all over the world, especially in the Islamic world. After that, when she spoke about promoting peace and unity at the United Nations as well, world leaders praised her thoughts.

Jacinda Ardern is the first woman Prime Minister in the non-Islamic world who assumed the office of Prime Minister in 2017 at the age of 37. She said that she fulfilled her duties with integrity and dedication for five and a half years. Now she feels that she should give priority to her family. Jacinda has a living relationship with Clark Gifford. They planned to marry several times during her prime ministership, yet, the wedding had to be postponed due to events such as Coronavirus, terrorism, and the eruption of the White Island volcano occurred. Jacinda also has a four-year-old daughter, New T Arya, with Clark. It is believed that Jacinda will now say goodbye to politics and marry Clark Gifford in the summer of this year. Jacinda Ardern said that she hopes that whoever leads New Zealand will be a strong leader, compassionate, and capable of making the right decisions in the interest of the people. She said that if the intention is true and the desire is to serve the people, then anyone can become a public leader.

Jacinda Ardern had to deal with issues like the Corona pandemic, natural disasters, and religious extremism in addition to the current economic, unemployment, and inflation problems, which she handled very wisely. Many analysts believe that the Labor Party, is in the making of the plan for the next election, and may have suggested to Jacinda that she should resign early and leave with dignity. This is so that a successor leader can be elected at the next election, which is due this year. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese praised Jacinda Ardern for her decision to resign, stating that she is a courageous and powerful politician. She led her government through difficult times with courage and brought unity and harmony to the people of New Zealand. Prime Minister Albanese said that Jacinda Ardern showed the politicians of the world what wisdom and intelligence can make difference in leaders and creates support among the people. Prime Minister Albanese said that he had a very warm relationship with Jacinda. There were some complications with the previous Liberal Party government, but our (Labor) government has a very cordial relationship with the New Zealand Labor Party government.

The writer is a Sydney-based journalist. He can be reached at: shassan@tribune-intl.com.