New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s shock resignation sparked a push on Friday for the country to choose its first Maori prime minister, as a small pack of candidates emerged for the top job.
Ardern, a global figurehead for progressive politics, stunned New Zealand on Thursday by abruptly announcing an exit from office on Feb. 7, less than three years after securing a second term in a landslide election win.
Arden — who steered the country through natural disasters, the COVID-19 pandemic and its worst-ever terror attack — said she no longer had “enough in the tank” to lead.
Photo: AP
The 42-year-old resigned with no clear successor, and her ruling Labour Party is now scrambling to settle on a replacement. Labour members of parliament are scheduled to elect a new leader tomorrow, who would become prime minister, with a winning candidate needing two-thirds of the vote. If that does not happen, the contest would become drawn-out, involving rank-and-file party members and affiliated unions.
New Zealand Minister of Education Chris Hipkins is the early frontrunner after Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson swiftly ruled himself out of the race.
Other names in the mix are Minister of Justice Kiri Allan, one of Labour’s senior Maori MPs, and Minister of Immigration Michael Wood.
None of the three has so far confirmed interest in the position.
Allan, a former commercial lawyer who was elected to 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 large say in choosing the next leader.
About 17 percent of New Zealand’s population of 5 million identified as Maori in the country’s latest census.
“Obviously, we’d love one day for there to be a Maori prime minister,” influential Minister of Labour Kelvin Davis said.
Minister for Maori Development Willie Jackson said it is 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 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.”
Wood is the third candidate to emerge so far. He was responsible for lifting New Zealand’s minimum wage and has considerable backing in the union movement.
A new opinion poll released yesterday, but conducted before Ardern’s announcement, showed that her government would struggle to hold power in the next election.
Ardern said her decision to step down was “tinged with sadness,” but she had “slept well for the first time in a long time.”
Political commentators have lined up to condemn the social media abuse that was increasingly directed at Ardern before her resignation.
Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark said Ardern had “faced a level of hatred and vitriol” that was “unprecedented in our country.”
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