Jubilee Post News & Views
#PM Modi congratulated Jacinda
Jubilee News Desk
Jacinda Ardern is the New Zealand prime minister once again. Indian prime minister Narendra Modi congratulated Jacinda. Modi tweeted, “My heartiest congratulations to the PM of New Zealand on her resounding victory. Recall our last meet a year ago and look forward to working together for taking India-NZrelationship to a higher level.”
With nearly 50% of the vote, Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party gets more than the 61 seats required for a parliamentary majority.
Ardern promised supporters she would build an economy that works for everyone, create jobs, train people, protect the environment and address climate challenges and social inequalities.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party has won over 49% votes in the general elections. At 26.9% of the votes, the National Party is in second place. Elections slated in September, were postponed by a month after a renewed Covid-19 outbreak.
Ardern’s party has won a majority, the biggest victory for the Labour Party in over 50 years. This will also be the first time that a party will be governing alone since New Zealand moved to the MMP (mixed-member proportional representation) electoral system in 1996.
Ardern, who has been hailed for her ‘compassionate’ leadership, became the 40th prime minister of New Zealand in 2017 and has been the leader of the Labour Party since then. She was born in Hamilton and grew up in rural areas, before attending Waikato University where she studied communications in politics and public relations.
Ardern joined the Labour Party at the age of 18 and entered New Zealand’s parliament in 2008. She is one of the few Prime Ministers to have given birth while in office.
During her political career, Ardern has been popular even outside New Zealand for holding progressive views about issues such as migration and for being vocal about the rights of children, women and the right of every New Zealander to find meaningful work.
Ardern’s tenure as Prime Minister saw the Christchurch shootings in 2019 where over 49 were killed. She was lauded for her handling of the attack, which was followed by a prompt action to ban guns.
Her campaign for the 2020 elections was largely focussed on her handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The country announced the end of community transmission in May, at a time when most developed countries were still dealing with the virus’s first wave. Till now, the country, which has a population of about 5 million has seen over 2000 cases of COVID-19 and roughly 25 deaths.
