New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has confessed that she feels some relief and has been able to sleep well for the first time in a long time after announcing her resignation from office.
Among a «range of emotions», the still New Zealand leader has shared that she is also sad, although she does not doubt her decision, which she announced last Wednesday at a press conference, according to the newspaper ‘Stuff’.
«I’ve slept well for the first time in a long time. But I’m between a range of emotions. I feel sad, but I also have a sense of relief,» Ardern said in response to questions from the press.
She also detailed that she and her family have been overwhelmed by the responses she has received following her announcement, as people from all over the country, as well as international leaders, have dedicated messages to the president.
Ardern, 42, took office as prime minister in August 2017, becoming the youngest person in the country’s history to hold the position.
She led the Labor Party from its worst popularity levels to power in 2017, basically thanks to a charisma that the polls continue to broadly respect today, in spite of the wear and tear suffered in recent months due to economic variables such as inflation.
Labor, which repeated its victory in 2020, based its exponential growth on a leader who did not hesitate to claim to be a feminist, republican and progressive, and who resembled the new generation of world leaders who, like France’s Emmanuel Macron or Canada’s Justin Trudeau, were calling for a change in a changing scenario.
Critical of immigration and in favor of new trade regulations, Ardern experienced her great political challenge with the COVID-19 pandemic. First applauded for her government’s ability to reduce the number of cases to practically zero, the strategy proved inapplicable with the emergence of more contagious variants.
The pandemic also marked her personal life to some extent, as Ardern was forced to cancel her wedding after new restrictions were announced. «I am no different from thousands of other New Zealanders,» said the still-unmarried prime minister in January 2022.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
