Former head of New Zealand’s Covid-19 pandemic strategy, Chris Hipkins, was confirmed this Sunday as the country’s next prime minister, replacing Jacinda Ardern, who resigned this week.
Hipkins, 44, was the only candidate so confirmation by the Labor Party was just a formality, Radio New Zealand reported.
The politician appointed current Minister of Social Development and Arts and Culture, Carmel Sepuloni, as Deputy Prime Minister, becoming the first person with ancestry from the Pacific Islands (Samoa and Tonga) to hold the position in the country. .
Hipkins, who takes office on January 25, said the government will focus on economic challenges facing the country, such as inflation and a possible recession.
“The economy will be at the center of everything we do,” he said.
Chris Hipkins was Secretary of the Interior, Education and Public Services. He was first elected to parliament in 2008 and was appointed minister with the Covid-19 portfolio in November 2020.
Jacinda Ardern announced her resignation as head of government on Thursday and called elections for October 14.
“I gave everything to become prime minister, but it also took a lot of me,” she said.
The outgoing prime minister was chosen to lead the country at just 37 years old, following the surprise resignation of centre-right leader John Key, making him New Zealand’s youngest prime minister since 1856 and a symbol of progressivism with strong left-wing ideas.
After winning a second term in office thanks to the Labor Party’s landslide victory in the 2020 parliamentary election, Ardern has experienced a decline in popularity in recent years, attributed to several causes: deteriorating economic situation, declining confidence in government, resurgence of the Conservative party opposition.
In recent months, the prime minister could no longer hide her irritation at the fierce opposition from the right and signs of political wear and tear have begun to be noticed.
Born in 1980 in Hamilton, south of Auckland, Jacinda Ardern says it was the poverty she witnessed in the North Island outback that helped shape her leftist beliefs.
Source: DN
