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Jacinda Ardern, who became a global liberal icon as New Zealand’s prime minister but faced rising political headwinds with an election looming at home, said in a surprise announcement on Thursday that she would step down next month as the country’s leader.
In a tearful speech in the New Zealand city of Napier, where Ms. Ardern’s Labour Party was hosting its summer caucus retreat, she said she did not feel emotionally equipped to complete another term.
“I believe that leading a country is the most privileged job anyone could ever have, but also one of the more challenging,” Ms. Ardern said. “You cannot and should not do it unless you have a full tank plus a bit in reserve for those unexpected challenges.”
She added: “This has been the most fulfilling five and a half years of my life. I am leaving because with such a privileged job comes a big responsibility.”
Labour lawmakers will elect a new leader of the party — and the country — in three days’ time, Ms. Ardern said.
Ms. Ardern, 42, became prime minister in 2017 and won a historic re-election victory in 2020, largely on the strength of New Zealand’s response to Covid, which allowed residents to live a mostly normal life for much of the pandemic. But her party has since fallen sharply in the polls amid economic troubles and some highly publicized instances of violent crime.
Soon after her surprising rise to power, as New Zealand’s youngest prime minister in 150 years, Ms. Ardern became something of an international celebrity. She had a baby while in office and brought her daughter, Neve, to the floor of the United Nations. To admirers, she became the sunny face of progressivism, and a welcome alternative to the politics represented by then-President Donald J. Trump in the United States.
But it was her response in 2019 to the massacre of 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, by a gunman espousing anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant hatred, that solidified her image as a global liberal icon. “We represent diversity, kindness, compassion. A home for those who share our values. Refuge for those who need it,” she said at the time of New Zealand.
Ms. Ardern said she had informed party members earlier Thursday of her decision to resign. She said would remain a member of Parliament for her electorate in the city of Auckland until April, in order to avoid the need for a by-election.
Labour has been facing fierce political headwinds ahead of the Oct. 14 election. For almost a year, the party has polled behind the center-right National Party, led by Christopher Luxon, a former aviation executive. As of December, support for Labour was at 33 percent, compared with 38 percent for the National Party.
Still, Ms. Ardern has remained personally popular with the electorate. She has regularly outperformed Mr. Luxon in polls as most New Zealanders’ “preferred prime minister.”
Mr. Luxon said last month that the polls showed New Zealanders felt the country was going in the “wrong direction.” He added: “What they can see is a government that’s just not getting things done.”
Ben Thomas, a political commentator and former press secretary for the National Party, said her resignation would come as a surprise for many New Zealanders and could spell disaster for the Labour Party.
“She’s Labour’s number one political asset,” he said. “It would very much be a personal decision to step down, as opposed to a considered strategy about what would be best for Labour in the election.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
