Jacinda Ardern leaves a legacy forged from crisis

AFP :
Jacinda Ardern promised “relentless positivity” as New Zealand’s prime minister, but in announcing her shock resignation on Thursday admitted the unrelenting demands of the job had finally worn her down.
A fresh-faced Ardern was elected prime minister in 2017, and in a tumultuous first term faced New Zealand’s worst terror attack, a deadly volcanic eruption, and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Just 37 years old at the time, she became the country’s youngest prime minister since 1856 and a global icon for progressive politics.
Ardern won a landslide second term in 2020, but her popularity has been on the slide as she battles declining trust in government, a deteriorating economic situation, and a resurgent conservative opposition.
The stress has been evident in recent months-Ardern showing a rare lapse of poise when she was unwittingly caught on microphone calling an opposition politician an “arrogant prick”.
“This has been the most fulfilling five and a half years of my life. But it has also had its challenges,” Ardern, 42, said on Thursday.