Ms. Ardern’s politics, rooted in moral values, came up against a reality check

Ms. Ardern’s politics, rooted in moral values, came up against a reality check 

• New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern has announced her shock resignation just months before she was expected to run for a third term in office, saying she no longer has the energy or inspiration to continue as the country’s Prime Minister.

Faced successive challenges 

• Jacinda Ardern’s time in office as New Zealand’s Prime Minister was rattled by several successive challenges. At 37, the Labour leader came to power in 2017, promising a “transformational change”. 
• Nearly six years later whenshe leaves office; she would be better remembered for her handling of crises such as the coronavirus pandemic, the far­right terror attacks on mosques in Christ church and volcanic eruptions.

A leadership model rooted in empathy & moral values 

• Ms. Ardern offered a leadership model rooted in empathy and moral values — the way she handled the Christchurch shootings is a case in point. 
• Her approach towards the pandemic was initially popular, which helped Labour sweep the 2020 legislative elections. 
• New Zealand’s per capita death rate from COVID­19 is among the lowest in the developed world. 
• The way she announced her resignation also won her praise — that there is“not enough in the tank” for her to continue inthe top office — which made her stand out in a world where not many leaders relinquish power easily. 
• Chris Hipkins, a former Minister for COVIDresponse in Ms. Ardern’s Cabinet and a trouble shooter for the Prime Minister, will succeed her and lead Labour in the 2023 election.
• While her leadership style is widely praised,particularly among liberal sections across theworld, there are also questions on whether Ms.Ardern made good on the promises she made tothe electorate. 

Facing crisis 

• New Zealand is one of the most expensive countries to live in. In 2017, Ms. Ardern vowed to tackle the country’s housing crisis by constructing 1, 00,000 homes, but only a fraction has been built in the past five years. Housing prices remain extensively high, while high inflation has left a hole in household budgets. 
• Her promises to address child poverty (New Zealand has one of the worst rates of child poverty in the developed world) and tackle inequality (the top 10%control nearly half of the country’s household net worth) have fallen flat. 
• Besides, continued lockdowns and COVID measures even when neighbouring Australia opened up turned achunk of Ms. Ardern’s early admirers away from her. 
• The slide in her popularity hit Labour’s election prospects which prompted many within the party to question her leadership. According to a December poll, Labour’s support stood at 33%, while 38% backed the centre­right National Party, the main opposition. It was against this background that Ms. Ardern announced her resignation. 
• Mr. Hipkins now has only eight months tosteady the ship and reverse the public mood, atall ask. He should blend Ms. Ardern’s empathetic politics with a strong economic vision that wouldaddress New Zealand’s structural economic problems while keeping its social harmony intact.