Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern won a landslide victory in New Zealand’s general election Saturday, and said she would use her mandate to rebuild an economy battered by the pandemic and tackle social inequality.
“Over the next three years there is much work to do. We will build back better from the Covid crisis. We have the mandate to accelerate our response and our recovery,” she said.
With two thirds of the vote counted, Jacinda Ardern’s centre-left Labour Party was on 49.2% and forecast to take around 64 seats in the 120-member parliament. No leader has achieved an absolute majority since New Zealand adopted a proportional voting system in 1996, leading to a succession of multi-party governments.
The pandemic is one of a string of crises that showed Jacinda Ardern’s leadership qualities during a torrid first term. She displayed both empathy and decisive action on gun control after a gunman killed 51 Muslim worshippers in the Christchurch mosques attack last year.
“No matter what crisis is thrown my way, you will always be assured I will give my everything to this job, even if that means a huge sacrifice,” she had said this week. She was also nominated for this year’s Nobel Prize for her work post deadly Christchurch shootings and during coronavirus pandemic.
