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Jacinda Ardern: New Zealand PM quits citing burnout
Jacinda Ardern is quitting as New Zealand prime minister ahead of this year’s election saying she no longer has “enough in the tank” to lead.
The shock announcement comes as polling indicates her Labour Party party faces a difficult path to re-election on 14 October.
Ms Ardern choked up as she detailed how six “challenging” years in the job had taken a toll.
Labour MPs will vote to find her replacement on Sunday.
Ms Ardern, 42, said she had taken time to consider her future over the summer break, hoping to find the heart and energy to go on in the role.
“But unfortunately I haven’t, and I would be doing a disservice to New Zealand to continue,” she told reporters on Thursday.
Ms Ardern will step down by 7 February. If no would-be successor garners the support of two-thirds of the party room, the vote will go to Labour’s lay membership.
Ms Ardern became the youngest female head of government in the world when she was elected prime minister in 2017, aged 37.
And a year later she became the second elected world leader to ever give birth while in office, after Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto in 1990.
She steered New Zealand through the Covid-19 pandemic and its ensuing recession, the Christchurch mosque shootings, and the White Island volcanic eruption.
Ms Ardern said the past five-and-ahalf years had been the “most fulfilling” of her life, but leading the country during “crisis” had been difficult.
“These events... have been taxing because of the weight, the sheer weight and continual nature of them. There’s never really been a moment where it’s ever felt like we were just governing.”
National Party leader Chris Luxon was among those who thanked Ms Ardern “for her service to New Zealand”.
“She has given her all to this incredibly demanding job,” the opposition leader wrote on Twitter.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described Ms Ardern as a leader of intellect, strength and empathy.
“Jacinda has been a fierce advocate for New Zealand, an inspiration to so many and a great friend to me,” he wrote.
Canada’s leader Justin Trudeau said she had made an “immeasurable” difference to the world.
But while Ms Ardern was often seen as a political star globally, opinion polls suggest she was increasingly unpopular at home.
She led the Labour Party to a landslide election victory in 2020, capitalising on her government’s strong early response to the pandemic.
But the latest opinion polls put her personal popularity at its lowest since she was elected, and approval of her party’s performance similarly low.
In 2022, Ms Ardern told the BBC her declining popularity was the price her government had paid for keeping people safe from Covid-19.
However, she has also been confronted with a cost-of-living crisis, national fears about crime, and a backlog of election promises put off during the pandemic.
Reaction to her announcement has been varied. One local from her own Auckland electorate told the NZ Herald Ms Ardern was “running away before getting thrown out”, blaming her for increased crime and rising living costs.
For others, like Auckland Pride’s Max Tweedie, she is “one of the greatest prime ministers in New Zealand’s history”.
Those are sentiments shared by New Zealand actor Sam Neill, who said Ms Ardern had faced “disgraceful” treatment from “bullies” and “misogynists”.
Ms Ardern said she was looking forward to finally getting married to partner Clarke Gayford
The three main figures in Ukraine’s interior ministry have been killed in a helicopter crash beside a nursery in an eastern suburb of the capital Kyiv.
Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky, 42, died alongside his first deputy minister and state secretary.
Fourteen people died when the helicopter came down in Brovary around 08:30 local time (06:30 GMT), including one child, authorities said.
There is no indication the crash was anything other than an accident.
But the SBU state security service said it was following several possible causes for the crash, which included sabotage as well as a technical malfunction or breach of flight rules.
The State Emergency Service had previously stated that up to 18 people were killed but later revised the death toll from the crash, saying 14 had died.
Mr Monastyrsky, who was one of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s longest serving political advisers, is the highest profile Ukrainian casualty since the war began.
The deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said the minister had been travelling to a war “hot spot” when his helicopter went down.
The head of police in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, Volodymyr Tymoshko, said the ministerial team were on their way to meet him there and he had spoken to them only yesterday.
The minister’s death cuts to the heart of the government in Kyiv as the interior ministry has the vital task of maintaining security and running the police during the war.
President Zelensky has spoken of a terrible tragedy that claimed the lives of “true patriots”.
The head of Ukraine’s national police force, Ihor Klymenko, has been appointed acting interior minister following Mr Monastyrsky’s death.
Witnesses in Kyiv said Russia’s war was to blame for the disaster.
“It was very foggy and there was no electricity, and when there’s no electricity there are no lights on the buildings,” local resident Volodymyr Yermelenko told the BBC.
Key officials are flown by helicopter across Ukraine at tree-level, but that comes with risks.
All that was recognisable of the helicopter was a door panel and one of its rotors which landed on the roof of a car. Next to it were three bodies covered in foil blankets.
The main kindergarten building was left badly damaged by the crash.
The 42-year-old interior minister was a prominent member of President Volodymy Zelensky’s cabinet.
He was a recognisable face for Ukrainians throughout the war, updating the public on casualties caused by Russian missile strikes since Ukraine was invaded in February 2022.
Ukrainian officials said those on board the helicopter included six ministry officials and three crew.
First deputy minister Yevhen Yenin died along with state secretary Yurii Lubkovich, whose task was to organise the work of the ministry.
Before he moved to the interior ministry, Mr Yenin helped represent Ukraine’s government abroad. Mr Tymoshenko said the interior ministry’s work would not be affected by the loss of its leaders, but government colleagues were visibly shocked as they reacted on national TV.
A friend of the late minister’s, MP Mariia Mezentseva, said it was a tragedy for everyone as the ministry had a significant role in Ukraine’s response to the invasion.
“He responded 24/7 to his colleagues, friends and family. He was very close to President Zelensky from day one of his presidential campaign,” she told the BBC.
National police chief Ihor Klymenko wrote on Facebook that the helicopter belonged to Ukraine’s state emergency service, while other officials said it appeared to a be a French Super Puma aircraft.
Parents were bringing their children to the kindergarten before going to work when the helicopter came down.
Source;BBC
