New Zealand’s outgoing Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Tuesday thanked the country for the «love,» «empathy» and «kindness» they have shown her while in office, and predicted that her successor, Chris Hipkins, will be a «wonderful» prime minister.
«For my part, I want you to know that my overwhelming experience in this job at the helm of New Zealand and New Zealanders leaves me with love, empathy and kindness. That is what the majority of New Zealand has shown me,» he said.
«I want them to know that I leave with more affection for New Zealand and its people than when I started, and I didn’t think that was possible,» who has ventured a few words in Maori to thank «from the bottom of my heart» for allowing him to fulfill «the greatest privilege» of his life, reports broadcaster RNZ.
In her last speech as prime minister she also had words of affection and support for her successor, Chris Hipkins, or as she referred to him, her «friend Chippy», a person, she praised, «nice» and «down to earth».
«Chippy, you are a friend and colleague to all of us, but I know you will be a wonderful prime minister,» Ardern has said a day before officially tendering her resignation as a preliminary to Hipkins’ swearing in.
Ardern’s remarks came on the 150th birthday of the prophet Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana, founder of the Ratana Church, one of the Maori religions. «The relationship between Ratana and Labor is much deeper than individuals, but it will be maintained, continued and strengthened,» she said.
Last week Ardern made a surprise announcement of her resignation to lead the country and the Labor Party, acknowledging she no longer had the strength to carry out such ventures. She became the world’s youngest prime minister when she was elected at the age of 37 in 2017.
Under her tenure she dealt with the Christchurch mosque shooting, in which 15 people were killed and half a hundred injured, and after her re-election she guided New Zealand through the pandemic, managing to become one of the first countries free of coronavirus cases, while the rest of the world remained locked in.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
