Shrewd resignation puts the party first

ALTHOUGH Jacinda Ardern’s decision to step down as Prime Minister of New Zealand came as a shock to global onlookers, back home speculation about her potential resignation had been brewing for months.

The move to call it quits at the start of what was set to be a brutal election year was arguably a political masterstroke, both at an international level for Ms Ardern’s legacy, and domestically for the NZ Labour Party.

The peculiarity of Ms Ardern throughout her five years and three months in the top job has been her consistent global acclaim even as her popularity in New Zealand slipped.

A darling of US late night television and inspiration to many women in politics and beyond, who also watched support for her party drop to its lowest levels since 2017.

Ms Ardern was embraced in the top job as a young, progressive, clear communicator who led with kindness first.

She guided New Zealand through the major tragedies of the Christchurch mosque shooting and the White Island volcano disaster, then steered the nation through the early years of the Covid-19 pandemic with the populace and the business sector largely in her corner.

But she also promised ambitious reform on tough issues like child poverty and climate change and over time frustration grew over the lack of delivery.

Ms Ardern said her decline in the polls was not behind the decision to leave, rather Labour needed a “fresh set of shoulders for that challenge”.

Some will argue she opted to bow out on her own terms rather than stick around and lose the election in October.

But the self-awareness to “know when it’s time to go” is itself the mark of a good leader — a leader who has likely handed her party a better chance at securing another term without tarnishing the good she was able to achieve.