(Sydney) Former New Zealand COVID-19 pandemic official Chris Hipkins, 44, has been nominated by Labor MPs to replace Jacinda Ardern as prime minister, the left in a press release.
Chris Hipkins must still be formally appointed by his party leadership on Sunday before he can become the 41e Prime Minister of his country, after the surprise resignation of Jacinda Ardern on Thursday.
PHOTO AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern
The new head of government will be responsible for leading his party in the general elections in October, for which he is not the favorite, according to the polls.
The action of Mr. Hipkins was hailed at the head of the ministry responsible for developing the response to the pandemic, in a country which closed its borders in order to limit the risk of infection, and only reopened them in last August.
Considered experienced with more than 14 years in parliament, he admitted last year that people were fed up with tough pandemic restrictions, describing border closures as “difficult”.
Minister of the Interior since June, he had previously held the portfolios of Education and Public Services.
Jacinda Ardern, 42, resigned Thursday, claiming to have “no longer enough energy” to continue to govern after five and a half years in power. During her tenure, she faced the COVID-19 pandemic, a deadly volcanic eruption and the country’s worst ever attack, the killing of 51 Muslim worshipers at two Christchurch mosques by a white supremacist in 2019.