Oh no

New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has said she is resigning, in an unexpected announcement that came as she confirmed a national election for October.

[...]

“I’m leaving, because with such a privileged role comes responsibility – the responsibility to know when you are the right person to lead and also when you are not. I know what this job takes. And I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice. It’s that simple,” she said.

[...]

Over the past year, Ardern has faced a significant increase in threats of violence, particularly from conspiracy theorist and anti-vaccine groups infuriated by the country’s vaccine mandates and lockdowns. She said, however, that the increased risk associated with the job were not behind her decision to step down.

[...]

Ardern became the world’s youngest female head of government when she was elected prime minister in 2017 at 37. She has led New Zealand through the Covid-19 pandemic, and a series of disasters including the terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, and the White Island volcanic eruption.

“This has been the most fulfilling five and a half years of my life. But it’s also had its challenges – among an agenda focused on housing, child poverty and climate change, we encountered a … domestic terror event, a major natural disaster, a global pandemic, and an economic crisis,” she said.

Asked how she would like New Zealanders to remember her leadership, Ardern said “as someone who always tried to be kind”.

“I hope I leave New Zealanders with a belief that you can be kind, but strong, empathetic but decisive, optimistic but focused. And that you can be your own kind of leader – one who knows when it’s time to go,” Ardern said.

  Guardian

What a huge loss to New Zealand and to the world.

Always, the best people know their limits. Sadly, the people who don't are the ones who want the positions.

[D]eputy leader and finance minister, Grant Robertson, who would be considered a frontrunner, said on Thursday that he would not be seeking the position.“I am not putting myself forward to be a candidate for the leadership of the Labour party,” he said.

It will be an even worse loss for the world if right-wing zealots - who are on the rise and becoming more and more violent across the globe - get control of the government.