Ardern poised to win landslide
Wellin gton • Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, is widely expected to win a second term in this weekend’s election, with polls showing her centre- Left Labour Party comfortably in front.
In the final leadership debate Thursday night, Ardern said she would step down as leader of the party if she lost Saturday’s vote.
“My message would be that if people don’t want to see me resign, then vote for Labour,” she said after the debate.
However, this scenario is highly unlikely. A poll, leaked earlier this week, showed Labour’s approval rate at 50 per cent and the rival centre- Right National Party falling to 29 per cent. Ardern may be able to cruise to a historic victory with an outright majority in parliament, something that has not happened since 1996.
She has been met with rapturous crowds during the final throes of the campaign, which has largely focused on her personal popularity.
While the election is seen largely as a referendum on her government’s response to the pandemic, Ardern has also cast herself as an extraordinarily empathetic leader.
She won praise for her handling of the Christchurch mosque shootings in which 51 people were killed by a terrorist, and the rape and murder of British backpacker Grace Millane.
“I hope you can place your faith in us, so that we can keep doing what New Zealand needs right now,” she told supporters this week at Victoria University in Wellington. “And so, that’s why I ask, please, two ticks this year for Labour. Bring us back, allow us to keep going.”
Only 25 people in New Zealand have died from the virus, with fewer than 2,000 infected, and the country’s “zero- Covid” strategy has been held up by some as a shining example of the best way to respond. During the country’s month- long lockdown, beginning in March, Ardern had suggested that “kindness” from all New Zealanders would help get its citizens through the pandemic. Her opponent, Judith Collins, the National Party leader, on the other hand, earned the nickname “Crusher” after a policy she enacted while she was police minister to crush any cars used by people to race around the streets.
Collins has sought to frame the election campaign as being about the recovery of the economy from the lockdowns. However, the message has not cut through.
New Zealand recently went into recession, with the economy contracting 12.2 per cent in the June quarter — the largest drop since records began in 1987.
Despite what has been dubbed “Jacindamania,” Ardern has long had a small but vocal band of critics at home. Early in her leadership she was labelled “Stardust” and “part-time PM” by her critics, who accused her of turning up more often on the cover of Vogue magazine than in parliament.